By putting down a few hundred thousand euros for a house or an apartment, investors can gain the right to live in an EU country and travel freely in the 26-nation Schengen area. In Portugal, which runs the most successful visa scheme to date, the Chinese are by far the biggest buyers. This is the latest twist in a trail of Chinese money moving into Europe.

“I worked more than 16 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” said Mr Zhao, who was a senior executive and shareholder of Greentown China. “Another 10 years like that and I would’ve been spending all my money on hospital bills.” Last year he moved to Portugal and opened a new property consultancy. “Here you can turn your phone off after 6pm,” he says. “No one will call you”.

Mr Zhao is one of a growing number of well-off Chinese entrepreneurs who are leaving China to take advantage of so-called “golden visa” residence schemes offered by cash-strapped countries in the eurozone.

The US, Canada and Australia were long the first-choice emigration destinations for Chinese but EU governments such as Portugal, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Latvia and Spain are increasingly appealing to Chinese homebuyers by offering residency permits to non-Europeans who buy local properties.

Source: Financial Times