In recent years, with the rapid growth of China's high-net-worth population, more and more Chinese individuals are reflecting on how to pass on wealth, how to conduct effective residency and tax planning, how to arrange for their children's education, and how to avoid overseas investment risks to ensure the preservation and appreciation of their assets.
Against this backdrop, on July 14, Ms. Sun Gelin, General Manager of the Beijing office of Visas Consulting Group, was invited to attend the "World is the Future -- Global Asset Allocation Summit Forum." She analyzed the reasons for immigration and the importance of proactive residency planning, explaining how immigration status allows individuals to better enjoy high-quality education, healthcare, and other benefits, while facilitating more rational and robust global asset allocation.
The following is the transcript of the speech by Ms. Sun Gelin, General Manager of the Beijing office of Visas Consulting Group:
Ms. Sun Gelin, General Manager of the Beijing office of Visas Consulting Group, speaking at the event
Why Residency Planning Should Precede Overseas Asset Allocation
Guest Sun Gelin: We have discussed many topics today, and "capital going global" is the most frequently mentioned term. In recent years, capital outflow has seen explosive growth. Whether it is state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, or personal assets, the trend of capital going global is becoming increasingly apparent. Currently, this is dominated by state-owned enterprises, but since last year, private enterprises and individual assets have also accelerated their path to going global, with a significant increase in their share. This shows that "going global" has become an unstoppable development trend.
In addition, the emergence of a new concept, CRS, especially with the implementation of the Chinese version of CRS on July 1, has brought inconvenience and even anxiety to many high-net-worth individuals. Under this macro background, investors have to consider moving capital overseas. Traditionally, Chinese investors considered buying property abroad, but now more are investing in other business products.
I remember I went abroad after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. At that time, there was the first wave (not in the absolute sense, but in terms of volume) of high-net-worth individuals from mainland China immigrating overseas. They mainly went to traditional countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. I discovered that people started learning Mandarin there at that time. In the previous 10 or 20 years, if you wanted to establish yourself overseas, you needed to speak Cantonese well. Restaurant waiters would ask how your Cantonese was; if you didn't speak it well, it was hard to get by. Cantonese dominated the scene, and before that, Teochew dialect dominated for 20 years. All these aspects indicate the rapid development of the mainland economy and that high-net-worth, high-quality individuals have developed the awareness to go global, marking the beginning of a trend where people with status and standing are directly going abroad.
Over the past decade or so, the status of Chinese people overseas has become increasingly prominent. As everyone mentioned just now, through our research, when we go abroad for asset allocation, it is best for high-net-worth families to allocate at least 15%-30% of their assets overseas. In this context, I would like to offer a suggestion: when you conduct overseas asset allocation, first do not forget to obtain an overseas residency status. This will greatly facilitate your asset allocation and protect your assets overseas.
I remember clearly in 2008, when I was already working at Visas Consulting Group, the United States was already our main business. Once, when a client was talking to me about his investment goals, he told me a story. He was a senior executive of a large state-owned enterprise and was sent to work overseas in the 1990s. After he had laid out all the preliminary work for the project, the company sent a very capable person to work with him. As it turned out, on the second night after this person arrived, he had a minor verbal altercation with a local American at a bar and was shot and killed by the other party. As everyone knows, this is legal in many parts of the United States. After he was shot and killed, the business could not continue, and the first thing to do was to go to court. What kind of members were on the jury? They were certainly people with U.S. status. The lawyers made a defense of innocence from many angles, and the Americans believed that for an expatriate who had just arrived in the U.S. from China, it was absolutely unacceptable to admit that the American was guilty.
This incident had nothing to do with the business itself, but the executive sent by the state-owned enterprise said that not only could he not discuss business-related matters there, but he also had to deal with these issues, feeling that there was no dignity to speak of. So now, after leaving the state-owned enterprise and starting his own business, he is optimistic about the U.S. market, but to enter the U.S. market, he believes that he must first obtain a Green Card. He is not just considering his children's education or the living environment, but believes that to do business well, one needs such a status. Even early clients in the 2000s applied to participate in politics to improve their status overseas, because they believed that better political status leads to better economic status.
To put it simply, when our investors are laying out overseas assets, they first let their children receive education overseas and understand the local culture. For example, taking the United States as an example, there are many ways to divide the population in the U.S., and one way is to divide them into those with status and those without. The two groups are in different circles and receive different treatment. This includes various policies introduced by many countries now; for instance, investment policies are also targeted at locals versus non-locals, with different benefits and opportunities. Therefore, before considering overseas asset allocation, you must think about what kind of status you need to protect your overseas asset layout.
Visas Consulting Group Comprehensively Protects Investor Interests
Guest Sun Gelin: In terms of controlling investment risks, Dr. Winner Xing, Chairman of Visas Consulting Group, proposed a concept. Before 2008, for example, U.S. immigration was in an era of blind following; after 2008, U.S. immigration entered an era of carefully selected projects. After 2008, when we chose projects, the problem we had to face was how to avoid risks. He believes: First, the company must have a team that maintains excellent communication with the local government, high society, and industry elites, experts, and scholars in the destination country, so that we can grasp various local policies in real-time. Only in this situation can we avoid political risks or regulatory and legal risks. For example, in the past two years, the "wolf is coming" drama of U.S. investment immigration has been staged six times; in fact, high-level control over such policies is very important.
In addition, a good analysis team is essential. Many companies, like us, have been building teams for many years, constantly improving the introduction and cultivation of talent. Our immigration industry is defined by the government as an intermediary industry; for example, in terms of law and finance, we cannot surpass professional companies. Therefore, Visas Consulting Group adopts a new method. First, when choosing projects, we must cooperate with well-known enterprises, well-known developers, and large groups with excellent background checks, and work with very well-known lawyers. First of all, the partners themselves can help us filter out some risks through their personal credit. Secondly, we have also proposed a concept, and we are actually operating it, regarding the follow-up control of projects. We will propose to our partners to hire third-party professional institutions. For example, third-party professional accounting firms, third-party professional law firms, and third-party professional supervision companies. We require third-party companies to provide us with fair and impartial progress reports every year. The establishment of this mechanism restricts the probability of uncontrollable problems in the subsequent development of partners. Through these methods, we can avoid more risks, and only in this way can we truly guarantee the interests of these investors.
Visas Consulting Group Philosophy: Customer First, Integrity Based
Guest Sun Gelin: The philosophy of Visas Consulting Group is customer first and integrity based. Whether it is the North American projects we have done, or the European real estate investment projects we led in the industry a few years ago, or the Commonwealth passport projects to cope with CRS or meet the needs of children's education, Visas Consulting Group has established two sets of customer service teams for our investors in the local overseas areas. There are customer service staff in overseas offices to serve clients and help everyone open up the situation locally and do a good job in more follow-up development. In order to meet the needs of more investors, Visas Consulting Group has already started work in U.S. dollar funds, overseas insurance, overseas real estate, and elderly care real estate, aiming to provide investors with diversified investment choices.
In the final analysis, we hope to become a century-old store. We can achieve today's theme: Integrity as the Cornerstone, Quality Passed Down Through Generations. Thank you all!
As one of the top 500 Asian brands in the immigration industry, Visas Consulting Group has focused on overseas investment for 20 years and has pioneered many industry leaders. Since its inception, Visas Consulting Group has carefully selected projects and professionally served clients, with successful cases all over the world.
Over the past 20 years, Visas Consulting Group has won an excellent reputation in the industry with its authority and professional accumulation, and its brand strength is profound. Visas Consulting Group has the largest document service team in the industry and has established three national document centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen to provide professional document services to clients. From the moment the client signs the contract, Visas Consulting Group's professional document team works personally on preparing materials, customizing plans, guiding clients, and integrating materials for submission to lawyers, giving clients the most professional service. For more details, please consult: 400-138-2929.