Zhou Xing is currently worried about his son, who is taking the high school entrance examination this year. What concerns Zhou Xing is not his son's exam results, but the fact that his friends are scrambling to arrange for their children to study abroad, and his best friend has just moved his entire family to Canada. “They will certainly face an era of global competition in the future. Many high school students have already left, and the pressure of competing for admission to foreign universities is increasing. It is better to plan ahead,” he said.
Since the financial crisis began last year, housing prices in the United States, Canada, and other countries have fallen. Some affluent parents have seized the opportunity to purchase property and initiate immigration plans, while working-class families have also targeted the depreciation of the U.S. dollar to send their children to study abroad.
Consequently, during this year's college entrance examination season, the trend of high school seniors opting out of the exams to study abroad has become a significant focal point. In some areas, there is even a phenomenon of high schools becoming “empty nests.” It is rumored that some prestigious high schools in Beijing have been desperately trying to prevent students from taking the SAT to maintain their “key university admission rates” and “top student” records.
A few years ago, there was constant criticism of the “study abroad junk phenomenon,” referring to children sent abroad during primary or middle school years. Today's parents are more vigilant and strive to avoid leaving their children alone overseas. Therefore, they prefer their children to complete their education under their guardianship, quietly giving rise to a new wave of immigration characterized by “immigrating first, studying abroad later.”
Calculating the Advantages: Immigration vs. Studying Abroad
“With the continuous rise in the popularity of going abroad and the relaxation of visa systems, the competition for undergraduate admission to foreign universities, especially prestigious ones, is becoming increasingly fierce and stressful,” says an immigration expert.
“In our grade of over 700 students, nearly 100 have gone abroad for study. Last year, a student from my class went to Princeton University for a preparatory course.” Shortly after the college entrance exams ended, Wang Yue, a high school graduate from Beijing, visited the international education fair, focusing on booths for institutions like Harvard University and Brown University. Her statement confirms Mr. Lu's assessment.
Faced with increasingly intense competition in studying abroad, Chinese parents who hold high expectations for their children are always finding more effective ways to succeed.
Professor Wang is a department head at a university in Hebei, a job many would envy. However, a while ago, he sold all his assets and immigrated to the United States with his family.
Mr. Wang has always had a wish: to provide his 12-year-old child with the best education. However, the excessive pressure of the domestic examination-oriented system and the rigid educational model left him deeply disappointed, leading him to decide on investment immigration.
In fact, parents have carefully weighed their options between studying abroad and immigrating.
Zhou Xing, who is thinking about his son's future, did the math:
If his son goes to study in the United States after graduating from high school, according to current market rates, the cost of a four-year university education for a foreign student would be over 1.5 million RMB. This does not even include domestic living expenses, and the cost of studying in the U.S. is not considered particularly high.
If they immigrate to the U.S., according to current trends, the cost of investment immigration is 500,000 USD, which is refundable after five years, and the whole family can obtain a U.S. Green Card. After extensive consultation, Zhou Xing learned that once immigration is successful, the child's education before university is completely free, and the tuition for university is only 2,000 to 3,000 USD per year. “If conditions are met, one can also receive government grants of about 5,000 USD per year.” In this way, the cost of education is very low, and combined with living expenses, the total cost will not be higher than staying in China.
Beyond the costs, what attracts Zhou Xing is the relaxed and more humanistic educational philosophy abroad, as well as broader opportunities for university selection.
“In developed Western countries, education is generally free until university. Children of immigrants have more opportunities to attend world-renowned universities such as Harvard, Yale, and MIT compared to children remaining in the domestic system,” said a WorldWay immigration expert, summarizing why most people choose immigration. “Furthermore, in the context of the financial crisis, developed Western countries have a stronger demand for foreign capital than ever before. This makes many countries more willing to attract more immigrants, especially investment immigrants, to help solve their domestic economic and employment problems. Naturally, immigration policies have become much more relaxed.”
In addition, with the appreciation of the RMB, the actual cost of processing investment immigration has significantly decreased compared to before. For example, the investment requirement for U.S. investment immigration is 500,000 USD. Previously, this required an investment of 4 million RMB, but now it has dropped to about 3.4 million RMB, significantly reducing the actual expenditure.
Consequently, the ranks of those choosing to immigrate continue to grow.