Recently, media reports indicated that as of now, there are 17 countries that have achieved true visa-free or visa-on-arrival access for Chinese citizens, meaning that one can travel there with just a passport and a flight ticket. Additionally, for East Timor, one only needs to carry a "visa issuance permit" from the embassy. It can be said that there are 18 countries where Chinese citizens can essentially "travel at will". For the increasing number of Chinese individuals eager to explore the world and integrate into it, expanding their business and living space overseas, the fact that there are fewer than twenty countries offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival access has clearly caused many inconveniences.
With the outbreak of the European debt crisis, many non-traditional immigration countries in Europe have opened their doors, introducing simple and quick property investment immigration policies. Moreover, since these countries are mostly Schengen countries and European Union member states, obtaining immigration status in one of these countries is equivalent to acquiring a residence permit to travel freely across Europe, allowing visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to hundreds of countries, which also means opening the "gateway to developed Schengen countries in Europe".
In particular, in 2013, emerging European property investment immigration projects became very popular, mainly because the European countries that currently allow property purchases for residence rights are almost all Schengen countries. According to the Schengen Agreement, once foreigners are permitted to enter the "Schengen territory", they can move freely within the territories of the signatory countries, providing practical convenience for entering and exiting Europe. Additionally, these European countries, primarily focused on property investment immigration, have obvious advantages such as relaxed application conditions, short processing times, and high visa approval rates, generally allowing residence status to be obtained within 1-2 months. Furthermore, as the European economy recovers, the property investment's value preservation and appreciation functions will gradually become apparent.
Currently, the mainstream European property investment immigration countries, such as Portugal, Greece, Spain, and Cyprus, have no other stringent requirements; one only needs to invest a minimum of €250,000 to €500,000 in local real estate to obtain residence status, greatly satisfying investors' needs for overseas travel. For example, in Portugal, after investing €500,000 in real estate, one can obtain residence status for the entire family. Permanent residency after 5 years, and citizenship application after 6 years. According to statistics from 2012, the Portuguese passport ranks fifth globally, alongside Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, and Spain, with visa-free access to 165 countries and regions, representing a true "global citizen" status.
