China

No, not in any practical sense. China is effectively closed to residence-by-investment. An investment route exists on paper, tied to direct investment maintained for 3+ consecutive years with a good tax record, but it is applied so restrictively that no serious adviser treats it as a real channel. The permanent residence permit, known informally as the Chinese green card, is granted for strategic talent and family ties, not capital. Approvals number in the low thousands annually against roughly a million foreign residents.

Through talent or family, not money. The main routes are recognition as high-level talent, or 3+ years of continuous senior employment on a talent-annotated work permit, or family reunion. That last route requires being the spouse of a Chinese citizen or PR holder, with five years of marriage and five years of continuous residence at 9+ months per year. Approval runs through the Ministry of Public Security and stays opaque and discretionary throughout. There is no rules-based entitlement, no matter how well you fit the criteria.

No. China's Nationality Law does not recognise dual nationality. Article 9 provides that Chinese nationals who settle abroad and voluntarily acquire foreign nationality automatically lose their Chinese nationality. Enforcement has tightened, and Chinese-origin families holding two passports now face real exposure. Naturalisation as a foreigner is available in law but granted in vanishingly small numbers, and it requires renouncing all other nationalities.

This is the most valuable planning device available to foreigners in China. Foreign individuals are taxed on foreign-source income paid by foreign entities only after residing in China for 183+ days in each of six consecutive years. The clock resets with a single absence of more than 30 consecutive days in any year. Break the chain with one such trip before the sixth year and that income escapes Chinese tax indefinitely. Miss it, and your worldwide income enters the Chinese base, where the top rate is 45%. China also runs CFC rules.

Neither. The K visa, in force from 1 October 2025, is an entry visa for young science and technology talent. It is meant for graduates with a bachelor's or higher in STEM from recognised universities, or those already working in scientific research or education, and its distinguishing feature is that it needs no employer sponsor to enter. It is aimed at the STEM talent that tightening US H-1B policy has displaced, not at wealth or residence. Holders must still separately qualify under a permanent-residence track, which is extremely restrictive.

Treat it cautiously. It is very new, with no settled practice, and its launch drew significant domestic nationalist opposition to admitting foreign workers. Categories introduced against that headwind can be quietly narrowed, so this remains a live policy risk. It leads to no residence or citizenship directly, and once you become a Chinese tax resident, the six-year rule and worldwide taxation apply regardless of visa category.

There is no inheritance tax. It has been proposed repeatedly but never enacted. There is no wealth tax either, though a property tax has been piloted without a national rollout. Capital gains are generally taxed at 20%. Gains on A-shares traded on domestic exchanges are currently exempt for individuals, and real-property gains are taxed at 20%. China participates in CRS and exchanges information with Hong Kong.

Capital controls, not immigration. Getting money out of China is a far harder problem than getting residence. The USD 50,000 annual individual conversion quota constrains ordinary channels. For a UHNW family, the meaningful Chinese planning question is almost never how to get residence. It is how to manage the six-year rule, Article 9 of the Nationality Law, and the movement of capital.