ABSTRACT

China is a major source country for immigrant investors. Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, operates one of the most popular investment migration programmes. The Hong Kong ‘Capital Investment Entrant Scheme’ (CIES) was launched in 2003 and has granted residence rights to over 28,000 individuals, until its suspension in 2015. Notably, CIES had a nationality requirement which precluded mainland Chinese from applying. However, an exception was made for those mainland Chinese who have obtained a permanent resident status in a foreign country. This paper argues that the nationality and foreign residence requirements of the CIES are due to the jurisdictional grey area between Hong Kong and the central Chinese government in the area of immigration. Despite the nationality restriction, mainland Chinese constitute the principal applicant group for the CIES nonetheless, due to convenient permanent residence-by-investment programmes offered by West African and Pacific Island states.

Quishi Fu, Global Migration Programme, Department of Geography, University College London.
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