China's Chase Of The 'Golden Visa' Abroad 过去10年中国人砸240亿美元办"黄金签证"

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From the United States and Canada to small islands in Europe and the Caribbean, Chinese are spending billions on new passports and visas to move their families away from their homeland.

China's middle and upper classes are demanding better schools, cleaner air and a more secure life for their children. And as China gets wealthier, millions of families have the means to purchase a new life elsewhere.

Their demand has transformed a once obscure market for immigration by investment. To study China's impact, the Associated Press collected statistics from 13 countries that offer citizenship or permanent residency for a price.

CHINA'S FAVORITE PROGRAMS

Consulting firms in China's biggest cities hawk investor visa programs in weekly sessions at hotels and on social media. The market leader is the United States, as urban Chinese are widely familiar with American schools and culture.

Here are the five countries with the most visas issued to Chinese investors and their families in the last decade:

— 43,448: the United States' investment visa program, known as EB-5.

— 35,278: Canada's investment bond programs, including a program offered by the province of Quebec.

— 7,875: Portugal's "golden visa" program for real estate investors.

— 6,405: Hungary's residence bond program, recently suspended by the government.

— 4,640: Australia's program for high-dollar "significant investors."

WHAT THEY BUY

Depending on the country, Chinese investors looking for a second home can join business projects, invest in bonds or make an outright payment to the government. Currency conversions are as of May 11.

— $250,000: the minimum price of citizenship in Antigua & Barbuda for an investor who donates to the island government's development fund and pays a $50,000 government fee.

— $380,000: the minimum value of real estate investors must purchase in Portugal's "golden visa" program.

— $500,000: the minimum business investment in the United States' EB-5 program, with a "green card" given to investors whose money creates or saves 10 jobs.

— $584,000: the minimum amount of interest-free investment to be made or financed for residence in the Canadian province of Quebec. (Canada closed a similar national program in 2014.)

— $3.7 million: the required investment in Australia's Significant Investor Visa program in a mix of developing businesses and funds as defined by the government. Australia's program is by far the most expensive in the AP survey.

WHAT THEY SPENT

To understand how China has changed the global investor migration market, here is how much Chinese families have invested at a minimum in foreign countries for a visa or passport. 

The figures below are an undercount because some investors put in more than what's required. Investment amounts for each year were converted to U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rate that year. The figures have not been adjusted for inflation.

— $7.7 billion: estimated minimum investment in the United States through the EB-5 program.

— $6 billion: estimated minimum investment in Australia through its Significant Investor Visa program.

— $4.3 billion: estimated minimum investment in Canada, including Quebec, through its immigrant investor programs.

— $1.96 billion: estimated minimum investment in the United Kingdom through its Tier 1 investor program.

— $1.71 billion: estimated minimum investment in New Zealand through its investor and entrepreneur programs.

过去10年中国人花240亿美元移民海外

美联社的分析显示，过去十年里，超过10万名中国人投入至少240亿美元在全球的“黄金签证”项目中，以这种方式换取另一个国家的居住权。

美国是其中最具吸引力的国家，过去10年中国人至少投入了77亿美元，获得美国发出的超过4万个签证。

这股投资热潮反映了中国的崛起如何让数千万家庭一跃成为中产阶级。但同时，也显示这些家庭由于环境污染、房价暴涨和子女教育问题变得日益不安，对于保护自己财产和积蓄也缺乏安全感。

他们的钱流向了政府债券、企业、高山滑雪胜地、新学校和房地产项目，也催生了投资移民相关产业。但这一行业鱼龙混杂，监管松懈、充斥着各种欺诈行为。在美国，联邦监管机构过去四年查到的与EB-5签证项目有关的欺诈案件涉案金额超过10亿美元。

中国的“黄金签证”投资者是这样一股移民浪潮的一部分，它不是由贫穷或战争迫害所驱动，而是由拥有稳定工作和住房的一群人所推动的。

他们消费能力的关键来自于中国房地产的崛起。中国特大城市的房价过去十年翻了不止三倍，北京平均每年增长25%。仅仅自2015年底以来，北京的房价就上涨了63%，120平米的公寓价格超过100万美元。如果一个家庭在十年前买下一所普通公寓，那么现在可以卖到“黄金签证”的价钱。

美联社从13个国家的官员那里获取了数据，显示自2007年以来有多少中国投资者曾利用他们的投资移民项目。在估计中国人投入的资金时，美联社将每个国家的中国投资者人数乘以这个国家投资移民的最低门槛，因此得出的数字可以说是低估的。

除了美国以外，另外几个最吸引中国投资者的国家是葡萄牙、西班牙和希腊。葡萄牙过去四年吸引了中国投资者的17亿美元资金。