Chinese and Hong Kong applications for Tier 1 Investor Visas at highest since 2014.

The trade war is driving high-net-worth individuals from China to drop their plans to emigrate to the US and seek alternative destinations in Europe, particularly the UK, the latest data suggests. Applications for Tier 1 Investor Visas by Chinese high-net-worth individuals jumped 54% between Q4 2018 and Q1 2019, according to Growthdeck, a private investment platform for high net worth individuals. There were 73 applications from mainland China and 10 from Hong Kong during the first quarter of the year, compared with a total of 54 in the final quarter of 2018. It represents the highest figure for a quarter since Q4 2014.

The trade war between the US and China, along with the recent protests in Hong Kong (in response to a proposed law that would allow people to be extradited to Mainland China for trial) have meant that, for many of its high-net-worth citizens, the political unease and lack of security and stability are now influencing in a very real way how they decide to channel their fortunes to and from the south-eastern city-state.