As the global investment migration heavyweight, China accounts for some two-thirds of applicants globally. In the last decade alone,
more than 57,000 Chinese together spent at least US$44 billion on residence by investment programs. But only a tiny proportion of those actually moved to their new country of residence/citizenship. Each year, hundreds (if not thousands) of Chinese investor migrants see their permanent residence permits canceled over their failure to meet physical presence requirements, typically in places like Australia and Canada.
In this article, we’ll try to dissect the reasons why Chinese investors are so often migrants on paper only.
#1 – It is often the dependents, and not the investors themselves, who are the real immigrants
Ask a hundred RCBI-program applicants in China, and at least half will tell you their chief motive is to somehow improve the educational prospects of their children. Students with residence permits don’t need student visas, their tuition fees are frequently lower than for non-residents, and they often have an easier time being accepted at universities altogether. For younger students, for example, those attending boarding schools, program participation often occurs because the parents want to accompany the child. Typically, the father will be the main applicant. While the mother takes up lodgings not too far away from Eton/Harrow/Rugby, the father remains in China to run his business.
