A new report compiled by US law firm Fragomen LLP reveals that more than 76,000 rich Chinese nationals moved abroad between 2003 and 2013, making China top the list of countries seeing large scale millionaire emigration.
The report reveals that the most popular destination for Chinese millionaires is Australia, followed by the UK and the US. Almost 90% of applications for Australia’s significant investor visa program over the past two years have been made by Chinese nationals. And of the 703 applications filed last year to settle in the UK through the Tier 1 investor visa route, over 300 were made by Chinese investors, while another 160 were made by Russian investors. UK’s Tier 1 investor visa requires a minimum investment of two million GBP in (S$4.1 million) in British assets.
According to Liam Bailey of law firm Knight Frank, an increasing number of rich Chinese people want to relocate to widen their business presence and become a “global player” with a “footprint in London, New York and LA”.
Second to China is India, from where around 43,400 millionaire investors emigrated in the ten year period between 2003 and 2013. Russia was ranked fifth with 14,000 investors emigrating during the same period.
The UK was the most popular destination for international investor immigrants, with more than 114,000 rich investors moving there in the ten years to 2013. It was followed by Singapore and the US.
The report also highlights Switzerland’s decreasing popularity among investor immigrants, mainly due to initiatives taken by the Swiss to improve transparency in their banking sector that has made it less attractive to the world’s super-rich. Millionaires who had settled in Switzerland are now reportedly moving to destinations such as the UAE, Singapore and the UK.
Source: Business Times
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