Wednesday, January 14, 2015

"Wealthy Chinese Head for Greener Pastures"

From The American Interest:
Last year, record numbers of China’s super-rich fled Xi Jinping’s purge by paying for pricey visas to the UK. The number of Chinese who shelled out for the visas last year is is both twice as high as it was the previous year, and also twice as high as the number of Russian oligarchs who availed themselves of the same opportunity over the same period. The FT reports:
A total of 357 British “Tier 1” investor visas were issued to Chinese nationals during the 12 months to the end of September, accounting for 43 per cent of all investor visas issued during that period, according to UK government data. These visas could be obtained in return for a £1m investment in gilts or British companies’ shares or bonds, a limit that has since been raised to £2m.

That, compared with 178 such visas issued to Chinese investors over the same period a year earlier, makes them the biggest group of beneficiaries of the scheme by far....MORE
FT: Flood of rich Chinese settle in UK