A Gallup survey indicates that if given the opportunity to realize their dream of immigration, approximately 16% of adults worldwide would like to permanently relocate to a foreign country. This is equivalent to about 700 million people, which is more than the combined population of South and North America. Among these, the United States is the most popular destination for migration.
Increase in Applications Following Economic Recovery
Affected by the financial crisis, European and American countries have protected their domestic labor markets, leading to varying degrees of tightening for skilled migration, and there has also been a slight decline in the number of capital-based immigration applications from China. However, with the improvement of the domestic economic situation and the fact that some countries have even relaxed their immigration policies, the number of investment immigration applications has begun to show signs of recovery. Currently, the number of domestic investment immigration applications remains relatively stable.
Changes in Foreign Immigration Policies: Investment Immigration Relaxed, Skilled Migration Tightened
Affected by the financial crisis, European and American countries have tightened skilled migration to varying degrees to protect their domestic labor markets, while investment immigration has remained basically stable, with some countries even relaxing the conditions for investment immigration.
United States: Obtaining a Green Card in Just 5 Months
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in the first half of this year that it aims to accelerate the processing time for major categories of immigration applications by 20% for the 2009 fiscal year. It is reported that the time from filing the application to obtaining an immigration visa and subsequently arriving in the United States to receive a Green Card is only about 5 months. Because the U.S. immigration authorities switched from paper files to electronic files this year and sent them to the U.S. Consulate General in Guangzhou, the application time has been significantly shortened.
Due to the high success rate and fast approval speed, U.S. investment immigration has become a major trend this year. In recent years, the number of people applying for investment immigration to the United States has increased significantly. Taking last year as an example, the latest data from the U.S. Department of State shows that in 2008, the number of applications for U.S. naturalization increased by 56% compared to 2007. The United States issued a total of 1,099 investment immigration Green Cards, with 293 issued to Chinese applicants, accounting for more than one-fifth of the total, an increase of four times compared to 2006.
