In today’s blog post we will look at how the United Kingdom can and is benefiting from a strong Chinese economy and how this impacts on the number of visas and type of visas Chinese nationals seek.
Currently Chancellor George Osborne is on a trade tour de force of China. His principal goal is to strengthen economic ties with the aim of making the U.K China’s second largest trade partner by 2025, currently China sits 6th in terms of top nations who Britain exports to. The staggering economic growth of China in the last 25 years makes it an attractive destination for British businesses. Equally, the U.K is benefiting from the new found economic freedoms being enjoyed by Chinese citizens with Chinese visiting Britain for business, leisure and to study.
Study
China leads the number of student visas granted to international students by a huge margin. 32% of all study visas granted in the last year went to Chinese nationals( up 11% compared to the previous year). According to the UK Council for International Student Affairs, the majority of Chinese students are in the U.K studying their first degree, the second highest amount are studying their postgraduate taught degree and finally the smallest number is comprised of those studying their postgraduate research degree. With numbers showing continuous growth for the last 2 years it is clear that the influx of Chinese students shows no sign of letting up.
Visitors from China
Last year Britain received 185,000 tourists from China who, on average, spent nearly £500 million pounds, 25 nights and around £2,5000 per person. Some of the most popular activities for Chinese tourists are visiting museums, visiting parks and gardens as well as shopping. In terms of worldwide expenditure, the Chinese rank number one in the World. No doubt the U.K is keen to attract some hard earned Yaun and has recently signed a visa service with Belgium to allow Chinese tourists to receive a visa for either country while only having to apply for one of them.
Business
With an economy that has grown around 10% per year in the last decade China is a global powerhouse. Boasting the second strongest economy in the World, China is going from strength to strength and the U.K is keen to be part of this market. The current visit by George Osborne highlights the U.K Government’s commitment to developing economic relationships. Whilst a small figure, 3% of all Tier 2 general applications came from China it is a figure that no doubt will grow considerably. In terms of the highly sought after Tier 1 Entrepreneur and Tier 1 Investor visas, China makes a regular appearance within the top 10 nationalities for both visa types. These expensive business visas attract wealthy individuals from across the world and encourage them to invest within the U.K.
What do you make of the Chinese market for U.K visas? do you think the Government should be more active in targeting them? As always please leave your thoughts below.
