The Hurun Research Institute, in association with Visas Consulting Group, released the Immigration and the Chinese HNWIs 2018. The survey was carried out in questionnaire form between March and June 2018 in China’s main cities nationwide.
The United States remains the most popular country with a proportion of 79%, followed by Canada and Australia with 25% and 15% respectively. UK is the fourth, and Ireland has become a new favourite among Chinese HNWIs, becoming the fifth most popular destination this year.
More than 20% HNWIs indicate that they pursue global tax planning.
Immigration is drawn up according to HNWIs’ own preferences. The United States remains the most popular country with a proportion of 79%, followed by Canada and Australia with 25% and 15% respectively. Ireland has become a new favourite among Chinese HNWIs, becoming the fifth most popular destination this year.
UK is the 4th choice, Ireland 5th choice for chinese looking to immigrate.
Malta 8th and Greece (10th) much more preferred for chinese than Spain and Portugal.
| Preferred Destinations for Immigration | Proportion | |
| 1 | USA | 79.3% |
| 2 | Canada | 24.6% |
| 3 | Australia | 14.8% |
| 4 | UK | 10.8% |
| 5 | Ireland | 7.9% |
| 6 | New Zealand | 6.4% |
| 7 | Singapore | 4.4% |
| 8 | Malta | 3.9% |
| 9 | Japan | 2.5% |
| 10 | Greece | 2.0% |
| 10 | Hong Kong | 2.0% |
| 12 | Spain | 1.5% |
| 13 | Portugal | 1.0% |
| 13 | France | 1.0% |
Source: Immigration and the Chinese HNWI 2018, by Visas Consulting Group and Hurun Report
Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said, “The United States is definitely the first choice for Chinese HNWIs who are considering immigration. London has risen rapidly to become the sixth most popular destination for purchasing overseas property, overtaking Vancouver, Toronto and Melbourne for the first time. It is also interesting to note that 90% of those considering immigration intend to live in China after retirement.
Brexit has no impact on Chinese
Despite the UK being set to leave the EU, London remains one of the world’s leading financial centers, and British education is regarded as second only to that of the United States. Investment immigration to the UK comes with the benefits of one’s children enjoying an elite British education, and of the family gaining access to its high quality medical and welfare systems. Furthermore, a favourable exchange rate makes investment in the UK more attractive.
Rupert Hoogewerf said, “Brexit has had little impact on Chinese entrepreneurs. At present, British property represents good value, with uncertainty over Brexit and the weakness of the pound making it relatively cheap”.
Wealthy millionaires in China
As of January 2017, there were 1.47 million ‘high net worth’ chinese families worth at least US$1.5m, an increase of 130,000 on the previous year, with a growth rate of 9.7%.
749,000 such households own US$1.5m investible assets.
High-net worth families: There were 99,000 ‘ultra-high net worth’ families worth US$15.3m or more, up 10,000 on last year, with a growth rate of 11.6%. Among them, 59,000 families own US$15.3m in investible assets.
Ultra high-net worth families: There were 65,000 ‘international ultra-high net worth’ families worth US$30m, 7,600 more than the previous year, with a growth rate of 13.3%. Among them, 39,000 families own US$30m in investible assets. (Source: Hurun Wealth Report 2017)
Education is the number one reason
‘Quality of education’ remains the most important reason for immigration among HNWIs, with a proportion of 83%, up by 7 percentage points year-on-year. Next comes the ‘environment’, with 69%, an increase of 5 percentage points. ‘Food safety’ comes next with 57%, surpassing the two traditional immigration reasons of ‘healthcare’ (38%) and ‘social welfare’ (36%).
| Reasons for Immigration | Proportion | |
| 1 – | Education | 83% |
| 2 – | Environment | 69% |
| 3 * | Food safety | 57% |
| 4 – | Healthcare | 38% |
| 5 * | Social Welfare | 36% |
| 6↓ | Assets Security | 28% |
| 7↓ | Political Environment | 21% |
| 8↑ | Tax Considerations | 10% |
Financial freedom
14% of respondents regard themselves as global citizens. HNWIs regard ‘financial freedom’ as the most important prerequisite for being a global citizen, followed by ‘visa freedom’. ‘Overseas education’ takes third place.
21% of the HNWIs polled have lived abroad for more than one year, and 24% say that they have lived in two or more countries overseas for longer than a month.
| Prerequisites for Becoming a Global Citizen | Proportion | |
| 1 | Financial freedom | 59% |
| 2 | Visa freedom | 22% |
| 3 | Overseas education | 8% |
| 4 | Multi-national business circle | 4% |
| 5 | Multi-national social circle | 3% |
Source: Immigration and the Chinese HNWI 2018, by Visas Consulting Group and Hurun Report
Property purchases abroad
Chinese HNWIs are willing to invest US$ 0.8 million in overseas property purchases on average. More than half of the HNWIs are willing to invest US$0.5m-0.9m, with 16% willing to go as high as US$0.9m-1.8m.
HNWIs’ overseas assets account for 11% of their total assets, of which property makes up a large majority. They hope that the proportion will increase to 25% in the future.
HNWIs purchase overseas property for three main reasons: for residential purposes, for investment and to obtain holiday homes, accounting for 49%, 46% and 5% respectively. The uses of their overseas property purchases mainly include ‘residential (including living and working needs)’, accounting for 51%, ‘asset allocation’ (20%), ‘children’s education’ (16%), ‘retirement’ (4%), ‘obtaining overseas residence’ (4%), ‘holiday home’ (4%) and ‘medical care’ (1%).
HNWIs’ priorities for overseas property purchasing include ‘cost-effectiveness’ (63%), ‘investment value’ (46%), ‘permanent property rights’ (37%) and ‘location’ (31%).
The top five cities for overseas property purchase among Chinese HNWIs remain unchanged from last year. Los Angeles is the most popular for the fifth year running, while New York climbs from the third place to second. Boston is up two places to third. San Francisco remains fourth, tied with Seattle, which falls two places. Greece enters the top ten for the first time, while London leaps eight places to sixth.
| Preferred Destinations for Overseas Property Purchases | Proportion (change) | |
| 1 – | Los Angeles | 18.7% (+2.5%) |
| 2 ↑ | New York | 13.4% (+2.5%) |
| 3 ↑ | Boston | 9.4% (+3%) |
| 4 – | San Francisco | 8.9% (-1%) |
| 4 ↓ | Seattle | 8.9% (-2.3%) |
| 6 ↑ | London | 8.6% (+6.5%) |
| 7 ↓ | Vancouver | 5.8% (+0.1%) |
| 8 – | Toronto | 3.1% (-1.1%) |
| 8 ↓ | Melbourne | 3.1% (-1.6%) |
| 8 * | Greece | 3.1% |
| 10 ↓ | New Zealand | 2.9% (-1.3%) |
| 11 ↑ | Spain | 2.2% (+1.2%) |
| 12 ↑ | Chicago | 1.9% (-0.4%) |
| 12 ↓ | Japan | 1.9% (-1.1%) |
| 14 ↓ | Sydney | 1.7% (-2.5%) |
| 14 ↓ | Singapore | 1.7% (-1%) |
| 14 ↑ | Italy | 1.7% (+0.4%) |
| 17 ↓ | Hong Kong | 1.2% (-0.8%) |
| 17 ↑ | Cyprus | 1.2% (+0.8%) |
| 17 * | Ireland | 1.2% |
| 20 ↓ | France | 1% (-0.7%) |
| 21 – | Malta | 0.7% (0) |
| 22 ↓ | Portugal | 0.5% (-0.2%) |
| 23 * | Canberra | 0.2% |
| 23 – | Hungary | 0.2% (-0.4%) |
Source: Immigration and the Chinese HNWI 2018, by Visas Consulting Group and Hurun Report
Taxes
10% of Chinese said taxes are the reason for immigration. More than 20% HNWIs indicate that they pursue global tax planning. The main methods for tax declaration are ‘engaging a tax agent’ (46%) and ‘engaging a company accountant’ (21%).
Before considering immigration, 41% of HNWIs indicated that they will plan for ‘property declaration in their first year after immigration’, followed by ‘tax declaration during investment immigration scheduling’ (35%).
The range of global tax declarations that HNWIs are most keen to understand more about mainly include salary and bonus income, self-employment income, bank interest income, dividends, stock trading income, house rental income, and EB-5 immigration program income in the United States.
Source: Hurun Report
