Since the introduction of the U.S. EB-5 investment immigration policy, immigrating to the United States no longer seems out of reach. According to authoritative survey data, the number of people immigrating to the United States from overseas reached 843,000 in 2013. The polling organization Gallup has also been tracking global migration trends since 2007, and the United States has consistently been the country people most want to move to. The latest survey results were released in April 2012. The data shows that over 640 million people worldwide intend to immigrate, and approximately 150 million people have expressed a desire to immigrate to the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau describes it this way: "A new baby is born in the United States every 8 seconds, and a new immigrant steps onto U.S. soil every 26 seconds." This does not include immigrants who entered the United States illegally.
The United States is the preferred destination for Chinese overseas immigrants and ranks first in the number of people pursuing the "American Dream." According to the aforementioned survey, there are 22 million people in China who want to immigrate to the United States, ranking first in the number of people pursuing the "American Dream." According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there were 2.231 million Chinese immigrants (including those born in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) living in the United States in 2011, accounting for 5.5% of the total immigrant population, making them the largest Asian group in the United States. China has become the second-largest source of overseas immigrants to the United States, second only to Mexico. According to the "Annual Report on Chinese International Migration (2014)" released by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 81,784 Chinese citizens from mainland China obtained U.S. permanent residence visas in 2012, accounting for 7.9% of the total number of U.S. permanent residence visas issued. Among them, investment immigration "green cards" accounted for 80.1% of the total conditional investment immigration "green cards" issued by the United States that year.
With the increase in investment immigration applications, the U.S. Department of State has issued a warning that Chinese investment immigration applicants will face visa retrogression in the second half of 2014.