Chapter 5 The Rise and the Fall of the Golden Visa

The Case of Chinese Investors in Greece and Portugal

In: Handbook of Chinese Migration to Europe
Authors:
Yu-chin Tseng
Search for other papers by Yu-chin Tseng in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
and
Sofia Gaspar
Search for other papers by Sofia Gaspar in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
Type:
Chapter
Pages:
157–186
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004712140_007

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

$40.00
Add to Cart
Redeem Access Token

Abstract

This chapter gives a detailed account of the golden visa (GV) programmes in Greece and Portugal, including their rise, possible fall, and current development. We emphasize the effects of the subordinate position of both countries within Europe, austerity measures as the result of financial crisis, and the financialization of the housing market. Against this background, this chapter explores how Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), tax reforms, the changing housing market, and booming tourism have motivated Chinese GV investors to migrate to Greece and Portugal.

Observing the coexistence of both investment-oriented and migration-oriented GV applicants, we argue for a more holistic understanding of their incentives. Apart from rich Chinese investors, the GV programmes also accommodate middle-class Chinese citizens who do not fit the typical categories of Chinese migration to Europe, which is often polarized between wealthy or highly-skilled elites and less-skilled economic migrants. For upwardly mobile middle-class Chinese, GV s are an affordable strategy to leave China. Thus, this chapter also investigates why China has become the largest source of GV holders in these Southern European countries.

  • Collapse
  • Expand
Series:  Brill Handbooks of Chinese Overseas, Volume: 01
Cover Handbook of Chinese Migration to Europe
E-Book ISBN:
9789004712140
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
26 Nov 2024
Front Matter
Introduction
Part 1 Statistical Data on Chinese Populations in Europe
Part 2 Migration Motivations and Pathways
Part 3 China as a Diaspora State
Part 4 Economic Opportunities and Ethnic Entrepreneurship
Part 5 Socialization and Intersecting Inequalities
Part 6 Identity Constructions and Cultural Representations
Back Matter

  • Amante, Maria de Fatima, and Rodrigues, Irene. 2023. “Mobility through Investment: Economics, Tourism, or Lifestyle Migration? Narratives of Chinese and Brazilian Golden Visa Holders in Portugal.” In Intersections of Tourism, Migration, and Exile, edited By Natalia Bloch and Kathleen M. Adams, 217–37. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003182689-13.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Amore, Alberto, Cecilia De Bernardi, and Pavlos Arvanitis. 2022. “The Impacts of Airbnb in Athens, Lisbon and Milan: A Rent Gap Theory Perspective.” Current Issues in Tourism 25 (20): 3329–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1742674.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Greece. 2013. “Current Developments and Prospects of the Greek Property Market.” https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/statistics/real-estate-market/greek-real-estate-market-studies-and-reports.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Greece. 2014. “Study on Real Estate Agencies.” https://www.bankofgreece.gr/RelatedDocuments/TE_EREVNA_KTIMATOMESITON.pdf.

  • Bank of Greece. 2019. “Indices of Residential Property Prices: Q2 2019 [Press Release],” 2019. https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/news-and-media/press-office/news-list/news?announcement=e53ada32-e98d-49c8-b173-6032f7263e8d.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Greece. 2023a. “Non-Residents” Direct Investment in Greece by Country of Origin: Annual Data.” https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/statistics/external-sector/direct-investment/direct-investment---flows.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Greece. 2023b. “Non-Residents” Direct Investment in Greece in Real Estate: Annual Data by Country.” https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/statistics/external-sector/direct-investment/direct-investment---flows.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Greece. 2023c. “Non-Residents” Direct Investment in Greece by Sector of Economic Activity: Annual Data.” https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/statistics/external-sector/direct-investment/direct-investment---flows.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Greece. 2023d. “Residential and Commercial Property Price Indices and Other Short-Term Indices.” https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/statistics/real-estate-market/residential-and-commercial-property-price-indices-and-other-short-term-indices.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Portugal. 2023a. “Net Foreign Investment 2006–2022.” https://bpstat.bportugal.pt.

  • Bank of Portugal. 2023b. “New Statistics on Foreign Direct Investment by Ultimate Investor: Statistical Press Release—2021.” https://bpstat.bportugal.pt/conteudos/noticias/1579.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bank of Portugal. 2023c. “Map Configuration: Foreign Direct Investment—Directional Principle.” https://bpstat.bportugal.pt/maps/38?startDate=&palettePositives=A&paletteNegatives=B.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bateman, Jessica. 2019. “Athens Property Boom: Greeks Left Out as Prices Rise.” BBC News, 18 February 2019. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47237923.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bonizzai, Brunno, Annina Kaltenbrunner, and Jeff Powell. 2020. “Subordinate Financialization in Emerging Capitalist Economies.” In The Routledge International Handbook of Financialization, edited by Philip Mader, Daniel Mertens, and Natascha van der Zwan, 177–87. Oxon: Routledge.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Bosworth, Gary, and Helen Farrell. 2011. “Tourism Entrepreneurs in Northumberland.” Annals of Tourism Research 38 (4): 1474–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.03.015.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Brown, Wendy. 2016. “Sacrificial Citizenship: Neoliberalism, Human Capital, and Austerity Politics: Neoliberalism, Human Capital, and Austerity Politics.” Constellations 23 (1): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12166.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Büdenbender, Mirjam, and Manuel B. Aalbers. 2019. “How Subordinate Financialization Shapes Urban Development: The Rise and Fall of Warsaw’s Służewiec Business District.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 43 (4): 666–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2427.12791.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Carrera, Sergio. 2014. “How Much Does EU Citizenship Cost? The Maltese Citizenship-for-Sale Affair.” CEPS Papers in Liberty and Security in Europe 64: 1–52.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Chatzinikolaou, Prokopis. 2023. “Record Home Purchases—One in Four Is Made by Foreigners.” Kathimerini, 24 August 2023. https://www.kathimerini.gr/economy/562580422/rekor-agoron-katoikion-mia-stis-tesseris-ginetai-apo-xenoys/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Christians, Allison. 2017. “Buying In: Residence and Citizenship by Investment.” Saint Louis University School of Law 62: 51–72.

  • Economist. 2022. “China’s Young Elite Are Considering Moving Abroad.” 5 May 2022. https://www.economist.com/china/2022/05/05/chinas-young-elite-are-considering-moving-abroad.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • ECOVIS. 2023. “Newsletter April 2023.” April 2023. https://www.ecovis.com/greece/blog/2023/04/18/newsletter-april-2023/.

  • Enterprise Greece. 2021. “黄金签证—Golden Visa.” https://enterprisegreece.gov.gr/cn/%E9%BB%84%E9%87%91%E7%AD%BE%E8%AF%81-golden-visa/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • European Parliament Press Release. 2022. “MEP s Demand a Ban on ‘Golden Passports’ and Specific Rules for ‘Golden Visas.’” 9 March 2022. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220304IPR24787/meps-demand-a-ban-on-golden-passports-and-specific-rules-for-golden-visas.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • European Commission. 2014. “The Second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece. Fourth Review.” European Economy. Occasional Papers 192. https://doi.org/10.2765/74796.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Gaspar, Sofia, and Fernando Ampudia de Haro. 2020. “Buying Citizenship? Chinese Golden Visa Migrants in Portugal.” International Migration 58 (3): 58–72. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imig.12621.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Hurun Research Institute and Visas Consulting Group. 2018. “Hurun Report Releases Immigration and the Chinese HNWIs 2018.” Hurun Research Institute. https://www.hurun.net/en-US/Info/Detail?num=670D27DA6723.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Idealista Portugal. 2023. “Relatórios de preço da habitação 2015–2023.” www.idealista.pt/media/relatorios-preco-habitacao/.

  • Kapopoulos, Panayotis, Anastasios Rizos, and Kalliopi-Maria Zekente. 2020. “The Rise, Fall and Revival of the Residential Property Market in Greece: Bringing New Drivers of House Price Fluctuations to the Foreground.” Insights Alpha Bank Research. January. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3708951.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Karadima, Sofia. 2020. “The State of Play: FDI in Greece.” Investment Monitor, 28 August 2020. https://www.investmentmonitor.ai/uncategorized/the-state-of-play-fdi-in-greece/?cf-view.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Kokkinidis, Tasos. 2023. “Chinese Investors Expected to Storm Greek Real Estate Market.” Greek Reporter (blog), 9 May 2023. https://greekreporter.com/2023/05/09/chinese-investors-greek-real-estate/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Lapavitsas, Costas, Annina Kaltenbrunner, Duncan Lindo, J. Michell, Juan Pablo Painceira, Eugenia Pires, Jeff Powell, Alexis Stenfors, and Nuno Teles. 2010. “Eurozone Crisis: Beggar Thyself and Thy Neighbour.” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies 12 (4): 321–73. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2010.510012.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Ley, David. 2010. Millionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific Life Lines. RBS-IBG Book Series. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

  • Lima, Rafaella. 2023. “Subordinate Housing Financialization: Tracing Global Institutional Investment into Lisbon’s Urban Development.” Urban Geography. Published online 24 August 2023. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2023.2245302.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Liu-Farrer, Gracia. 2016. “Migration as Class-Based Consumption: The Emigration of the Rich in Contemporary China.” The China Quarterly 226 (June): 499–518. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741016000333.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Montezuma, Joaquim, and Jennifer McGarrigle. 2019. “What Motivates International Homebuyers? Investor to Lifestyle ‘Migrants’ in a Tourist City.” Tourism Geographies 21 (2): 214–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2018.1470196.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Palan, Ronen. 2002. “Tax Havens and the Commercialization of State Sovereignty.” International Organization 56 (1): 151–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3078673.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Parker, Owen. 2017. “Commercializing Citizenship in Crisis EU: The Case of Immigrant Investor Programmes.” JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 55 (2): 332–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12462.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Paul, Anju Mary, and Brenda S. A. Yeoh. 2021. “Studying Multinational Migrations, Speaking Back to Migration Theory.” Global Networks 21 (1): 3–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12282.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Radio Free Asia. 2022. “Zhong guo run chao zha qiwei an quan gan zi you he zuo ge zheng chang ren 中国润潮乍起 为安全感、自由和做个正常人 [The Run Trend: For a Sense of Security, Freedom, and Being a Normal Person].” 11 July 2022. https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/ytbdzhuantixilie/run/wy-07112022134029.html.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rogers, Dallas, Chyi Lin Lee, and Ding Yan. 2015. “The Politics of Foreign Investment in Australian Housing: Chinese Investors, Translocal Sales Agents and Local Resistance.” Housing Studies 30 (5): 730–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2015.1006185.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Rousanoglu, Nikos. 2023. “Investors Turn to Cheaper Areas for ‘Golden Visa.’” Kathimerini, 1 September 2023. https://www.kathimerini.gr/economy/562591087/se-fthinoteres-perioches-gia-chrysi-viza-strefontai-oi-ependytes/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Roussanoglou, Nikos. 2023. “ENFIA Dropped 40% for Most.” Kathimerini, 2 June 2023. https://www.ekathimerini.com/economy/1212344/enfia-dropped-40-for-most/.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras. 2023. SEF, “Outros mapas estatísticos.” https://www.sef.pt/pt/Pages/homepage.aspx.

  • Shachar, Ayelet, and Ran Hirschl. 2014. “On Citizenship, States, and Markets.” Journal of Political Philosophy 22 (2): 231–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopp.12034.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Sobczyk, Konrad. 2023. “Understanding ‘Dependency’ through the Comparative Capitalisms Framework: Conceptualisation of Greece as a Dependent Market Economy.” New Political Economy 28 (6): 925–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2023.2206644.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Sumption, Madeleine, and Kate Hooper. 2014. “Selling Visas and Citizenship: Policy Questions from the Global Boom in Investor Immigration.” Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Sun, Xiaoxia, and Honggang Xu. 2017. “‘Lifestyle Tourism Entrepreneurs’ Mobility Motivations: A Case Study on Dali and Lijiang, China.” Tourism Management Perspectives 24 (October): 64–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2017.06.004.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Surak, Kristin. 2022. “Who Wants to Buy a Visa? Comparing the Uptake of Residence by Investment Programs in the European Union.” Journal of Contemporary European Studies 30 (1): 151–69. https://doi.org/10.1080/14782804.2020.1839742.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Surak, Kristin, and Yusuke Tsuzuki. 2021. “Are Golden Visas a Golden Opportunity? Assessing the Economic Origins and Outcomes of Residence by Investment Programmes in the EU.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 47 (15): 3367–89. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2021.1915755.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Tzima, Spyridoula, and Nichola James. 2021. “Greek Residential Property Market Resilient Going into 2021, but Underlying Prospects Tied to the Economy.” DBRS Morningstar. https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/research/382114/greek-residential-property-market-resilient-going-into-2021-but-underlying-prospects-tied-to-the-economy.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Üret, Gül. 2021. “Between Lifestyle Migration and Comfortable Exit Strategies: Turkish Golden Visa Investors in Greece.” Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies 21 (2): 166–87. https://doi.org/10.3138/diaspora.21.2.2021.05.21.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

  • Xiang, Biao. 2015. “The Rise of China, Changing Patterns of Out-Migration and Identity Implications.” In Handbook of Chinese Migration – Identity and Wellbeing, edited by Robyn R. Iredale and Fei Guo, 278–94. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation

Metrics

All Time Past 365 days Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 183 183 38
Full Text Views 6 6 0
PDF Views & Downloads 15 15 1