Fornew readers and those who request to be “好友 good friends” please read my 公告栏 first.

Two and half yearsago I wrote about the availability of this quick route to green card for the rich Chinese http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1565-500984.html. Since then this trickle has become a flood not just restricted to the wealthy but also for the Chinese middle class due to the real estate boom (many ordinary families now own housing worth more than the  entrance  fee for the green card). The Economist magazine  this week (4/26-5/2 issue) has a major article on this phenomena http://www.economist.com/news/china/21601305-more-middle-classes-are-leaving-search-cleaner-slower-life-yearning-breathe. Canada had to suspend the issuing of such immigrant visa due to a super long waiting list; and Australia has become the third largest emigration destination(after the US and Canada) for Chinese  who can afford the entrance fee.

These professional and educated middle class emigrate for different reasons than  the rich or the powerful official who use the green card as insurance and  escape routes . The Chinese middle class do it mostly for  their child  or the next  generations. Ability to have more than one  child,  less stress than the competitive  Chinese educational system, and bettr environmental conditions  are the driving reasons even though they  often have to give up excellent positions and opportunities themselves in China.

Of course as percentage of the Chinese population, this  flood only represent  a very small segment,may be only a couple  of percent, of the population. The stability of  the government depends on the vast working and peasant class.  Thus, it is my impression that the government is not that concerned. But it does say something about the mindset of the educated class.

Note added 3/23/2015 According to a news story in China Daily USA edition 1/23-25/2105, from its beginning in 2004 with 16 Chinese applicants, the program has in 2014  nearly 7000 Chinese applicant taking up 70% of the quota allowed.

Note add 1/23/2017. This is inevitable. This morning's paper featured a story of a scam in which a Tibetan Chinese swindled many other Chinese out of hundreds of millions of dollar by promising green cards and than ran off with the moeny without delivering.