China's next wave of overseas immigration will usher in a "European Era." With the significant increase in the proportion of overseas immigrants in countries such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and in light of the increasingly stringent immigration policies, some Chinese applicants are facing the dawn of a true "European immigration era." In the near future, as the material living standards of the Chinese population reach a certain level, a growing number of affluent individuals are beginning to focus their family immigration plans on the European continent, which is rich in cultural heritage and spiritual fulfillment.
Looking at the current state of global economic development, many European countries have opened their arms to investors from China through favorable immigration policies. Portugal, Spain, Greece, and Cyprus have successively introduced legal measures for property-based investment immigration. According to statistics, in 2013, the number of properties purchased by foreigners in Spain reached 15% of the total homes sold in the country. The Chinese overseas immigration community refers to this as "indirect immigration."
Among European nations, Portugal is a particularly representative example. To stimulate its sluggish economy, Portugal followed the lead of Cyprus by launching a property investment immigration program. At the beginning of 2013, the Portuguese property immigration program entered the Chinese market and unexpectedly sparked a strong "immigrate to Portugal" trend. Since then, a group of Chinese investment immigrants have traveled to Portugal to purchase real estate in exchange for long-term residency permits. According to Portuguese statistics, in the one year since the launch of the "Golden Residence Permit Program," Portuguese authorities have issued 356 residency permits, attracting a total of 222 million euros in investment. Chinese citizens are the largest group of investors, having been awarded 279 Golden Visas, which demonstrates their remarkable purchasing power.
Portugal's substantial gains from its property investment immigration program have also encouraged its neighboring country, Spain, to introduce a property immigration policy with the exact same investment threshold as Portugal's. The year 2014 may see a landscape where Spain and Portugal dominate the European immigration market, supported by the healthy development of immigration programs in other European countries.
Although the barriers to entry for European immigration currently appear to be quite low, it is important to note that the motivation behind European countries opening their doors is different from that of traditional immigration destinations like Canada and the United States; rather, it is intended to stimulate stagnant economies. There are reports that the European economy is slowly recovering, which means that Europe may decide to increase investment thresholds or close its immigration doors at any time, depending on economic conditions.