China’s millionaires keep leaving, but now outflows may be ‘more damaging than usual’

“General wealth growth in China has been slowing over the past few years, which means that the recent outflows could be more damaging than usual,” said Andrew Amoils, head of research at wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth, in the report.

Bill Liu, an agent from Guangdong province who advises wealthy Chinese on immigration and buying property overseas, expects 2023 and 2024 to be “big” for immigration.

Many of Liu’s clients say they are disappointed with the recent economic performance following China’s sudden end to its strict Covid controls, and are concerned with the value of Chinese assets.

“Among the families that consulted us before, about one out of 10 eventually [left China], but now the ratio has risen to two or three [out of 10], doubling what we had before,” Liu said, adding that the immigration-consulting sector has become more competitive of late.

The visa-application process typically costs wealthy individuals at least tens of thousands of US dollars, depending on various factors, according to widely available online quotes.

Europe remains a popular destination for China’s rich, but countries such as Portugal and Ireland are ending their investment-linked visa programmes, while Greece has doubled its investment threshold to 500,000 euros (US$540,250) for obtaining a visa by investing in its real estate market.