歐洲用"黃金簽證"吸引中國富人
Cash-strapped governments across Europe are reeling in investment from Chinese millionaires and other big spenders by offering “golden visa” residence permits in exchange for house purchases.
資金拮据的歐洲國家政府爲中國百萬富翁及其他出手闊綽的人士提供了一種通過購房換取的“黃金簽證”居留許可，以吸引他們的投資。Portugal is at the forefront of the trend after issuing 1,360 such visas since 2012 – 1,100, or 81 per cent, of which went to Chinese nationals. Greece, Latvia, Spain and other crisis-hit eurozone countries run similar schemes.
在這一潮流中，葡萄牙走在了各國的前面。自2012年以來，該國頒發了1360份這類簽證，其中1100份發給了中國公民，佔該類簽證總數的81%。希臘、拉脫維亞、西班牙及其他受到金融危機打擊的歐元區國家也實行了類似制度。
Hungary offers residency visas for people who make a 250,000 investment in government bonds. Buying a property for 220,000 in Malta or 300,000 in Cyprus can also secure a residence permit. By spending a minimum 500,000 on a Portuguese property non-European families can live in Portugal for five years and then apply for permanent residence. They can also travel in the 26 EU countries that make up the Schengen “open borders” area.
匈牙利爲投資25萬歐元購買匈牙利國債的人提供居留簽證。以22萬歐元在馬耳他置業或30萬歐元在塞浦路斯置業同樣能拿到居留許可。在葡萄牙，非歐盟家庭花費至少50萬歐元購買房地產，就能在該國生活五年，並在隨後申請永久居留權。他們還可以在申根(Schengen)“開放邊境”地區所包括的26個歐盟國家旅行。
However, most Chinese buyers are acquiring golden visas as a “Plan B escape route” and do not intend to become permanent EU residents, according to estate agents in the sector.
不過，根據房地產代理商的說法，多數中國買家只是把獲取黃金簽證當做一種“備用出逃途徑”，他們並不打算成爲歐盟永久居民。Charles Roberts, founder of Fine & Country real estate firm, which has sold 100 Portuguese properties to Chinese golden visa applicants, said: “The Chinese are buying an exit route so that if something goes wrong for them at home they can get on a plane and get out.”
Fine & Country房地產公司創始人查爾斯•羅伯茨(Charles Roberts)表示：“中國人正在出錢購買的是一條退路。這樣，如果在國內遇到麻煩，他們就可以登上飛機離開中國。” Fine & Country公司迄今已向申請黃金簽證的中國人出售了100個葡萄牙物業。Chinese companies operating in Portugal estimate that only about one in five Chinese investors will spend much more than seven days a year in Portugal, the minimum stay requirement to acquire a golden visa.
據在葡萄牙運營的中國企業估計，每五名中國投資者中只有一人每年在葡萄牙居留的時間會大大超過7天；7天是黃金簽證要求的最少居留天數。The trend is breathing new life into property markets hit by years of recession. Portugal’s visa programme, the most successful to date in the EU, has netted almost 900m in real estate investment since its launch in October 2012, a figure property developers expect to reach 2bn by the end of 2015.
這一潮流正在爲受到多年衰退打擊的各國樓市注入新的活力。到目前爲止，歐盟(EU)最成功的黃金簽證項目是葡萄牙的簽證項目。自2012年10月啓動以來，葡萄牙籤證項目已吸引了近9億歐元的房地產投資。房地產開發商預計，到2015年底，這一數字將達到20億歐元。The idea of exchanging residence permits and, in some cases, citizenship for cash has also angered some EU politicians. Non-EU residents who invest a minimum of 1.15m in Malta can apply for a passport after living on the island for a year. Ana Gomes, a Portuguese socialist member of the European Parliament, called the schemes “the sale of nationality by instalments” and a threat to the EU’s “values and security”.
不過，以現金換取居留許可（有時候甚至是公民權）的想法也激怒了部分歐盟政界人士。比如，非歐盟居民在馬耳他生活一年以後，只要最低投資115萬歐元，就能申請該國護照。歐洲議會(European Parliament)葡萄牙社會黨成員安娜•戈梅斯(Ana Gomes)稱，這種制度是“以分期付款的方式出售國籍”，對歐盟“價值觀及安全”構成了威脅。
