Australia is no longer a favorite destination, as chinese shun Australia for Golden visas in Europe and America. The Chinese investment into Australia plunged by nearly $5 billion in 2018 due to increased taxes and banking issues.
According to Investorist CEO, Golden visa countries in Greece and US remain at the top of list for chinese investors.
Although US and Canada, remains favorite destination for many chinese, long 16 year wait times with EB-5, and limited quota of 1,330 quebec visas in Canada, drive chinese towards european golden visa schemes.
Chinese remain top investors in golden visa schemes actively running in Greece, Portugal, Spain. Unlike US and Canada European golden visa schemes have no quota limits for chinese. Some chinese prefer to invest in asian countries not far away from mainland (eg. Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia etc)
A survey by Investorist, found that only half of the 160 Chinese real estate agents are selling properties in Australia due to decline.
Chinese investors are also following its government’s plans for infrastructure expansion with the Belt Road initiative by Chinese government
According to KPMG report, Chinese investment in Australia dropped to AUD 8.2 billion in 2018 – down by 36.3 percent from 2017. Private companies dominated the investment landscape, accounting for 87 percent of deal value and over 92 percent of deal volume, with an overall trend towards smaller sized deals. Healthcare was the most popular sector for Chinese investors, with commercial real estate falling to second position. Chinese investors still see Australia as a relatively attractive country to invest in, with an improving political climate, but they also confirmed that they are finding it harder to get capital out of China, and there are challenges raising capital in Australia.
The Investor and SIV visa statistics also confirm, decline of Chinese interest in 2018 with Business innovation, Investor and SIV streams
European Parliament
The European parliament also expressed its concerns with golden visa schemes and called member states for tightening up with strict measures against money laundering, tax evasion etc. The EU is expected to form a special member committee by Q4 2019 to oversee and monitoring of citizenship and golden visa schemes.
According to EU report, 22 out 28 EU member states offer visas for investment and 25 billion euros have been invested through C/RBI schemes
HNWI Chinese
According to Hurun survey for 2018
- 90% of Chinese HNWIs considering emigration plan to retire in China
- USA Country of Choice for 80% of Chinese HNWIs considering immigration
- Ireland and Greece emerging immigration destinations
- Investment in overseas real estate expected to increase 50% over next three years.
- ‘Quality of education’ remains the most important reason for immigration among HNWIs
The United States remains the most popular destination for HNWIs investment emigrants for the fourth year running, while the UK has risen from third place to second. Emerging immigration destinations Ireland and Greece performed well, with Ireland moving up four places to third, and Greece occupying sixth place in its debut appearance on the ranking. Canada falls two places to fourth, while Australia is down one place to fifth.
| Country | Score (Change) | |
| 1 – | USA | 8.7 (-0.3) |
| 2↑ | UK | 8.5 (+0.1) |
| 3↑ | Ireland | 7.9 (+1.6) |
| 4↓ | Canada | 7.8 (-0.9) |
| 5↓ | Australia | 7.5 (-0.3) |
| 6 * | Greece | 7.0 |
| 7↓ | Portugal | 6.7 (+0.3) |
| 8 – | Spain | 6.5 (+0.3) |
| 9↓ | Malta | 6.4 (-0.1) |
| 10 * | Cyprus | 6.3 |
Source: Immigration and the Chinese HNWI 2018, by Visas Consulting Group and Hurun Report
Foreign exchange controls
China last year tightened the rules and chinese are allowed to buy $50,000 worth of foreign currency per person. The limit of RMB 100,000 ($15000) per person and per account applies according to SAFE agency
Dual citizenship
China including SAR (Hong Kong, Macau) prohibits allow dual citizenship for its nationals. This is one of the primary reasons why RBI/Golden visa schemes are more popular with chinese than citizenship by investment (CBI). Grenada has long standing special relations with China with mutual visa waiver agreement.
Currently CBI schemes run in over 10 countries. These countries have also tightened rules including revoking of citizenship and extradition of chinese nationals abusing CBI/CIP schemes
