T ANG SHOUGANG is one of a generation of young Chinese who seem to have it all. Aged just 35, Mr Tang (not his real name) has a well-paid job for a tech firm, and his wife owns a successful shop. They have two young sons, two cars and an apartment in downtown Shanghai worth a fortune. One perk enjoyed by others of their class, however, eludes them: a passport or long-term residents’ visa for a country other than China. Ideally they would like a green card that makes it easier to live, work and educate their children in America. That looks difficult, so the Tangs are pondering other options.

A whole industry has grown in China to help them choose. About a hundred countries around the world have schemes that offer residence—a “golden visa”—in return for a big investment from the applicant. A dozen or so of these go further, and also offer a passport, in effect selling citizenship. By far the biggest users of these “residence or citizenship by investment” ( RCBI ) schemes are Chinese. Hundreds of businesses compete to help them navigate the labyrinthine procedures. They usually offer other services as well, such as help with applications for student visas.

There are various reasons why Chinese citizens want residence abroad. By far the most common—the Tangs in this respect are typical—is education. Parents want to spare their offspring the horrors of China’s gruelling university-entrance exam, the gaokao. And they believe that a foreign education will open up opportunities unavailable at home. Even childless Chinese also see the attractions of a “plan B ” should the political or economic climate in China deteriorate. Many like the idea of investing abroad, especially in property, to diversify their portfolios as much as to acquire a bolthole. And some may actually prefer to live, or at least retire, overseas.

These, however, are difficult days for China’s RCBI industry, for a number of reasons. One, in the words of Larry Wang of Well Trend, one of the biggest and longest-established visa consultancies, is that it has become “the victim of its own success”. The sheer number of Chinese applicants has overwhelmed some of the RCBI schemes. By far the most sought-after is America’s EB -5 programme, launched in 1990. Mr Wang says it is top of the list for eight out of every ten of his clients—America’s universities being the biggest pull. EB -5 visas require investment of at least $1m, or half that if it goes into a “targeted” area of high unemployment. About 10,000 EB -5 visas are issued every year. A maximum of 7% can go to any single nationality—ie, just 700 Chinese, and the waiting-list for their compatriots is now 15 years long. A bill before Congress would abolish country caps. But so popular is the scheme worldwide that analysts reckon this would cut the waiting time for Chinese applicants by only three to five years. A group of more than 450 Chinese EB -5 investors is suing the American government, arguing that it is wrong to interpret the 10,000 annual limit as covering visas, rather than investors, whose dependents should then also be granted residency. For educational migrants, the obvious alternative to America would be another English-speaking country. But Canada closed its federal programme in 2014 (some provincial schemes, such as Quebec’s, continue). And in other countries the required investment is much bigger—A$5m in Australia ($3.5m); £2m in Britain ($2.5m) and NZ$3m ($2m) in New Zealand. So there is an opening for other countries keen to attract Chinese money, including a number in Europe, such as Greece, Portugal and Malta (which also offers citizenship). These programmes offer the attraction of visa-free travel around the 26-country Schengen area of the European Union. The European Commission and the OECD , a rich-country think-tank, worry that such schemes might provide cover for money-laundering and tax evasion. They have indeed been prone to scandal. The EB -5 scheme has been dogged by allegations of fraud, typically involving the embezzlement of Chinese investors’ money. And in Greece last year Chinese investors were accused of complicity in a scam in which a Greek developer bought properties at market value and sold them at a big mark-up to would-be investment migrants in China (and partially reimbursed them).

There is another big problem for Chinese investment migrants: Chinese exchange controls. These limit citizens to sending $50,000 a year overseas—far less than the investment demanded by most RCBI programmes. So almost all Chinese investment migrants are probably breaking Chinese law. The Greek developer dodged the restrictions by the simple expedient of using point-of-sale machines linked to Greek banks to take money from the credit cards of Chinese in China—a breach both of Chinese law and the rules of Greece’s golden-visa scheme.

The fuss this caused makes it unlikely others will get away with it. But plenty of shady avenues remain, such as pooling $50,000 allowances with others; making an arrangement with a Hong Kong resident or foreigner in China; inflating invoices for overseas payments; and cryptocurrencies. RCBI professionals say they do not advise their customers how to navigate China’s exchange controls. They even deny knowledge of how this is done. But they say clients do seem to be finding it more difficult.

Oddly, China has recently liberalised the RCBI market. Last November it lifted a requirement that RCBI firms obtain a licence from the police. So competition has become more intense. Some of this comes from new entrants. But there may be a more serious threat to incumbents, says Christian Nesheim, editor of Investment Migration Insider, a trade journal. Banks and other wealth managers might be tempted to poach RCBI professionals to offer clients a fuller service, he says.

There is no sign of any slackening in demand for such business. More people now find golden-visa schemes affordable. Ever since Deng Xiaoping a generation ago decreed (perhaps apocryphally) that to get rich is glorious, those who have succeeded in doing so have deemed it even more glorious to get out—or at least to be able to. Mr Tang has his eyes on Ireland. ■