By Canadian Press

How AP collected, parsed data on China’s investor immigrants

May 16, 2017 | 8:45 AM

BEIJING — At least two dozen countries offer a new home to people willing to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in a business, real estate or government bonds. And there’s no bigger market for many of them than China.

By The Associated Press’ count, more than 100,000 Chinese have spent at least $24 billion in the last decade to buy residency through investment visa programs.

The AP obtained the numbers of Chinese visa recipients from programs in 13 countries. To estimate total investments, the AP multiplied the yearly number of Chinese investors, excluding family members, by the minimum investment required by each country. Most of the countries in AP’s survey did not provide an official estimate of Chinese investment.

The annual investment totals were converted into dollars based on the average exchange rate for that calendar year. They are not adjusted for inflation, and they don’t include investments that may have exceeded the minimum requirements or fees paid to agents and lawyers.

Not all countries gave the same figures. In some cases, the AP estimated how many Chinese visa recipients were investors rather than family members with the help of government data or experts on investment migration.

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The Associated Press