Buy some property, get a passport. For Bulgaria. Or Portugal. That was the vibe at the Shanghai Real Estate Expo in March, 2014. Lots of people were inquiring about how much was needed to invest to get citizenship status abroad. Lots of parents are interested in sending their children abroad. One company told me that 500,000 USD gets you a lifetime passport in St. Kitts, plus a pretty nice apartment. That grants you visa-free access to lots of other countries where you can send your children to school, as well as a nice life in a tax haven. Meanwhile, a nearby booth was offering houses in Detroit for less than 50,000 USD. Both had lots of visitors. They'll offer you a free ticket so you can go check out the house you bought, but the U.S. won't hand out passports for residential investment. Now if you invest in a hospital or school, that's a different story.
Immigration among rich Chinese seems almost like a game of keeping up with the Jones'. On one hand their is advantages to migrate but how many Chinese immigrants really cut all ties to China? And do they love their new life? Time after time I have had students mention to me how boring they thought LA, NZ or Melbourne was.... Or another student who said that she wanted to immigrate but couldn't really find what she wanted: Australia (island), Italy (bad economy), US (shootings), Canada (too much snow)....
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