They say that they will sell ‘300 passports a year’ – but literally thousands of rich Chinese are jumping through hoops to get a US passport
Thousands of rich Chinese have applied for the United States tortuous EB-5 Visa in the hope of being ALLOWED to invest $500,000 to $1 million so as to create and sustain 10 full-time jobs. For example, 2,969 applied to be allowed into the investor programme in 2011 but only 934 were approved.
First they go through rigorous checks to be allowed to do that, and still they have no guarantee of being granted US citizenship. After five years, those 934 are ALLOWED TO APPLY FOR CITIZENSHIP, and may be rejected.
Now they have a choice between going through all that in the uncertain hope they may eventually get a US passport at the end of it, or simply snapping up an EU passport for a mere Eur650,000 plus piddling sums for wives and children and extended-family members.
EU and US passport are roughly equal in terms of potential and desirability. So exactly what do you think is going to happen?
From the Wall Street Journal blogs section:
(…)
According to data from the Immigration Service, thousands of wealthy Chinese have applied for the EB-5 Visa, also known as the “green-card-for-money” program.
Under the program, foreign investors must finance commercial projects in the U.S. by investing either $500,000 or $1 million and create at least 10 full-time jobs. The investors have to undergo a background check, identify the source of their wealth and create and sustain 10 full-time jobs. The investors and their families can get citizenship after five years if they fulfill the requirements.
Lots of rich people around the world apply. But the Chinese have become far and away the biggest users and beneficiaries.
In 2011, 2,969 Chinese citizens applied for the program and 934 were approved, according to the Immigration Service. (Approval doesn’t mean they get citizenship, it just means they can start the program). Their numbers represented more than three quarters of the total number of applicants and approvals. (…)
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http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/11/09/surge-in-rich-chinese-who-invest-in-u-s-citizenship/
There’s a striking parallel between somebody buying citizenship and African immigrants throwing away their passports to acquire ours.
In both cases, it’s hard to identify the real reason behind that choice.
[Daphne – African immigrants do not acquire a Maltese passport when they enter Malta without papers.]
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-11-08/news/pn-to-present-number-of-amendments-to-citizenship-scheme-3133865985/
So we don’t want African immigrants, who risk life and limb to reach Europe, because we don’t have room for them and they will ‘take us over’ and change our culture.
But if they come brandishing a cheque for Eur650,000, that’s fine, and we’ll give them a Maltese passport immediately and the free run of Malta.
And thousands of Chinese buying passports won’t change our culture, and we will find room for them, of course.
I doubt that anyone buying a Maltese passport is doing so in order to live in Malta. It’s far more likely that these passport buyers are purchasing easy access to Europe and (for now) visa-free travel to the US.
Create & Sustain…. very telling difference to Malta’s passport sale.
China is a non-sustainable bubble. It is such a corrupt country, at both the national and the local level, that it may implode within our lifetime.
The corrupt officials at all levels make their money and flee at the first opportunity.
A lot of the internal strife, in particular in the western regions of China are never reported within China, let alone in the rest of the world media.
Nothing untoward is ever reported in China as that would disturb the social harmony on which its self-deluding myth is based.
Have you ever seen any footage of their ghost metropolises?
He who sold his soul will sell sell his nationhood and his citizenship.
Now that he sold our citizenship, he will be devoured by the vortex he has created.
May he spin in it for ever.
The question is do we have the balls to call for a referendum against this law? Or are we going to stay quiet, read this blog and grumble between the walls of our homes.
In the meantime, our spirit’s core, our Maltese citizenship, is up for sale and cheaply without any commitment for investment or anything else that we know of.
Mur gib lill-Avukat Generali, lid-Dekan tal-Fakulta tal-Ligi u lil Prof. Refalo jghidu lil Mintoff li jekk tal-PN jirrevokaw il-passaport ta’ dawk li jixtruh ikunu qed jiksru il-kostituzzjoni.
Kien jibghathom jitn*jku kollha kemm huma. Ara dak x’kien j*itnejjek mil-kostituzzjoni.
Oops. This comment should be under the star comment by Manwel…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-passport-idUSTRE81B05A20120213
Daphne, many readers are assuming that buyers of Maltese passports will not be living in Malta.
I personally would not rush to draw that conclusion. Especially now that we know that Chinese families have already submitted applications.
We have not yet seen any of the proposals for land reclamation projects. Incidentally, the closing date for the expressions of interest is 29 November 2013, a date quite close to the current parliamentary enactment of the citizenship sale scam.
I would not be surprised if the Chinese government (or one of its controlled entities) will be one of the parties expressing interest with a residential city on the lines of Dubai’s Palm City that can be populated with thousands of Chinese billionaires and their families.
For the first time since Ghar Dalam, elephants will be back in Malta. This time they will be of the white variety.
Unbelievable. Come on guys…just deal with it. I have no doubt that if the PN came up with the idea you would be the first people supporting it.
Totally ridiculus. Maybe it is all about money…so what??!! The government can always stop the programme if it becomes ‘too successful’, so I doubt we’ll be full of Chinese people roaming around us!
Might as well make the most out of the EU now that we’re in. We already let Europeans come and go as they please…taking our jobs, so why not Chinese and Russians??!!
Keep it up labour. I have no doubt that, if the PN continues on their current path, we’ll be in government for another decade.
All the best xxxx
Bless. A walking, talking testament to the much despised argument that much like many less potentially destructive acts (eg a driving licence), perhaps a basic IQ test should be required before allowing such people to even look at a voting document.