East Asia’s five major investment immigration destinations each take a fundamentally different approach to foreign capital. Japan demands that you build a real business. South Korea lets you park money in a government fund. Hong Kong offers passive portfolio investment at a premium price point. Taiwan grants immediate permanent residency through its Plum Blossom Card. And China makes getting in so difficult that fewer than 15,000 foreigners have held permanent residency over two decades.
This guide covers the investment-based pathways to residency and permanent settlement in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. All five jurisdictions require active involvement, substantial capital, or both. None offers the kind of low-cost, park-your-money-and-walk-away structure common in Caribbean programs, though Hong Kong and South Korea come closest with their passive fund-based routes.
Macau, China’s other Special Administrative Region, operates a Major Investment Immigration program and a Technical Immigration pathway, though application volumes are modest and the program receives little attention in the investment migration market. It is not covered in detail here.
If you are looking for Southeast Asian alternatives like Singapore’s Global Investor Programme or Thailand’s Long-Term Resident Visa, those are covered separately.
1. Japan: Business Manager Visa
Japan overhauled its Business Manager Visa on October 16, 2025, raising the minimum capital requirement sixfold. The program now demands ¥30 million (approximately $203,000) in paid-in capital, up from the previous ¥5 million that had been in place for years.
The increase was a direct response to widespread abuse. Only about 4% of the roughly 41,600 existing Business Manager Visa holders had capital exceeding ¥30 million at the time of the reform. Officials cited cases of applicants establishing shell companies or launching short-term rental operations solely to obtain residency.
The new requirements go well beyond the financial threshold. Applicants must now employ at least one full-time local worker from the outset. Three or more years of management experience or a relevant master’s degree is required.
Either the applicant or one of his full-time employees must demonstrate Japanese language proficiency at B2 level or above, verified through the JLPT, the BJT, or equivalent certification.
The business plan must be certified by a qualified professional expert such as a certified public accountant, licensed tax advisor, or SME consultant (中小企業診断士).
Existing holders have a three-year grace period until October 2028 to meet the new standards at renewal. Applications submitted before October 16, 2025, are assessed under the old criteria.
Path to Permanent Residency and Citizenship
Permanent residency through the standard route requires ten years of continuous residence. A fast-track option exists through the Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) points system: Applicants who score 70 or more points qualify after three years of residence, while those scoring 80 or above can apply after just one year.
Points are awarded based on salary, education, work experience, age, and Japanese language proficiency. A large investment can contribute to a higher points score, but there is no standalone investment threshold that automatically shortens the residency requirement.
Citizenship eligibility begins at five consecutive years of residency, but Japan does not recognize dual citizenship. Naturalization requires that applicants relinquish their original nationality.
The Startup Visa Alternative
If ¥30 million is beyond your current reach, Japan’s Startup Visa offers a stepping stone. Since January 2025, the program has been available nationwide through participating local governments, a change from the previous regime that restricted it to designated cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka.
It grants up to two years of residency to prepare a business plan, incorporate a company, and build toward the full Business Manager Visa requirements. Applicants do not need to meet the ¥30 million threshold during this preparation period.
Japan has also signaled plans for a dedicated Angel Investor Visa targeting venture capitalists, though details on qualification criteria remain sparse.
Key Trade-offs
Japan’s investor visa is not a golden visa. There is no passive investment option. You must run an actual business that generates revenue and employs people.
The program rewards entrepreneurs with genuine commercial intent and penalizes those seeking residency through minimal financial commitment. For investors who want to live in one of Asia’s safest, most technologically advanced economies and are willing to operate a real company, the path remains open. It just costs six times more than it used to.
2. South Korea: Multiple Tracks, Rising Thresholds
South Korea offers the most varied menu of investor visa options in the region, spanning active business investment, passive government fund deposits, and real estate purchases. Every track experienced price increases in 2023 as part of a broad policy tightening.
D-8 Corporate Investor Visa (from KRW 100 million / approximately $75,000)
The lowest entry point remains the D-8 visa, which requires that applicants invest KRW 100 million (approximately $75,000) in a Korean company. Applicants must hold at least 10% of the company’s voting shares and actively participate in its management, administration, production, or technology operations. This is not a passive route.
Initial visas are issued for one to five years depending on investment size. Permanent residency through the F-5 pathway becomes available after maintaining substantial investment and creating local employment over a sustained period, though the specific thresholds for the F-5-5 track should be confirmed with the Ministry of Justice, as published guidance on precise requirements is limited.
Immigrant Investor Program for Public Business (from KRW 1.5 billion / approximately $1.15 million)
The IISPB is South Korea’s closest equivalent to a passive golden visa. Applicants deposit funds into a public interest fund managed by the Korea Development Bank, which uses the capital to provide low-interest loans to Korean small and medium enterprises. The principal is returned after five years without interest.
In June 2023, the Ministry of Justice tripled the minimum from KRW 500 million to KRW 1.5 billion (approximately $1.15 million). The reform also eliminated the retiree discount that previously allowed investors aged 55 and older to participate at KRW 300 million.
Depositing KRW 1.5 billion grants an F-2 residence visa with a three-year initial term. Maintain the investment for five years and you qualify for F-5 permanent residency.
A higher tier at KRW 3 billion (approximately $2.3 million) grants immediate permanent residency without the five-year wait.
The IISPB requires only one day of physical presence in Korea per year to maintain F-2 status, and one entry every two years for F-5 holders. No language test, income proof, or employment history is required.
Real Estate Investment (from KRW 1 billion / approximately $780,000)
South Korea’s real estate investment immigration route, available since 2010, allows you to purchase qualifying tourism and leisure facilities in designated zones including Jeju Island, parts of the Incheon Free Economic Zone, Pyeongchang’s Alpensia resort area, and Busan’s Haeundae district.
The minimum investment doubled from KRW 500 million to KRW 1 billion in May 2023. The program has been extended until April 30, 2026, but its renewal beyond that date is uncertain. If you are considering this route, the approaching sunset date is a factor worth weighing.
Path to Citizenship
South Korean citizenship requires at least five years of permanent residency, plus passing the Korean Immigration and Integration Program covering language and civics. Naturalization takes a minimum of six years from the date of initial investment visa issuance.
South Korea generally requires that naturalized citizens renounce their original nationality within one year. Exceptions allowing dual citizenship exist for individuals deemed to have made outstanding contributions to the country or to possess exceptional abilities in a specific field, but these are discretionary and rare.
A separate provision allows former Korean nationals over age 65 to recover Korean nationality without renouncing their foreign passport, but this does not apply to foreign investors naturalizing for the first time.
3. Hong Kong: The New Capital Investment Entrant Program
Hong Kong relaunched its Capital Investment Entrant Program (CIES) on March 1, 2024, reviving a program that had been suspended since 2015. The New CIES is East Asia’s only large-scale passive investment immigration program at the ultra-high-net-worth level, requiring HK$30 million (approximately US$3.85 million) deployed in permissible assets.
Of that total, HK$27 million must go into permissible financial assets or real estate. The remaining HK$3 million is placed into a government-managed CIES Investment Portfolio overseen by the Hong Kong Investment Corporation Limited (HKIC), which invests in innovation, technology, and strategic sectors with a Hong Kong nexus.
Permissible financial assets include equities listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, debt securities, certificates of deposit (capped at HK$3 million), subordinated debt, eligible collective investment programs authorized by the Securities and Futures Commission, and ownership interests in limited partnership funds registered under the Limited Partnership Fund Ordinance (capped at HK$10 million).
Real estate is subject to an aggregate cap of HK$15 million counted toward the investment threshold, with residential real estate further capped at HK$10 million. Since September 2025, qualifying residential property must have a transaction price of at least HK$30 million for a single property (reduced from HK$50 million).
Applicants must demonstrate net assets of at least HK$30 million throughout the six months preceding the application, a requirement relaxed from the original two-year lookback period following enhancements introduced in March 2025. Since that same date, net assets jointly owned with family members may count toward the threshold, provided the applicant’s beneficial share meets the minimum.
The program is open to foreign nationals, Chinese nationals who hold permanent resident status in a foreign country, residents of Macau, and Chinese residents of Taiwan. Mainland Chinese nationals without foreign permanent residency are not eligible. Nationals of Afghanistan, Cuba, and North Korea are excluded.
In its first two years, the program received 3,166 applications representing approximately HK$95 billion in anticipated investment, with HK$55.6 billion in verified deployed capital. Despite the option being available since October 2024, not a single applicant has invested in residential real estate under the program, with virtually all capital flowing into financial assets.
Path to Permanent Residency
After seven years of continuous ordinary residence in Hong Kong and ongoing compliance with portfolio maintenance requirements, CIES entrants and their dependents may apply for permanent residency.
An annual compliance review is required: Applicants must submit a Fulfillment of Portfolio Maintenance Requirements report prepared by a practicing Certified Public Accountant in Hong Kong after each anniversary of formal approval.
Permanent residency in Hong Kong grants the right of abode, including unrestricted employment, immunity from deportation, and access to a Hong Kong SAR passport (available only to Chinese nationals). For foreign nationals, naturalization as a Chinese national is theoretically possible after obtaining permanent residency, but China does not recognize dual citizenship and the process is discretionary.
Key Trade-offs
Hong Kong’s CIES is the region’s most expensive passive investment route by a wide margin. It sits at roughly three times the cost of South Korea’s IISPB at the immediate-PR tier.
But it offers access to one of the world’s freest economies, a territorial tax system (no tax on foreign-sourced income for individuals), and a passport that ranks among the strongest in Asia by visa-free access. The seven-year timeline to permanent residency is longer than most golden visa programs globally, though the absence of a minimum physical presence requirement during the initial visa period offers flexibility for applicants who do not intend to relocate full-time.
4. Taiwan: The Plum Blossom Card and Other Routes
Taiwan structures its investment immigration around three distinct programs, each targeting a different investor profile.
Standard Investor Visa (from $200,000)
The Taiwan Investor Visa requires a minimum $200,000 investment in a registered Taiwanese company, approved by competent central government authorities before you apply. This is an active business investment. Real estate purchases do not qualify.
Upon arrival, you convert your resident visa into an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC), which must be renewed annually. After five years of continuous residence with at least 183 days of physical presence per year, you become eligible for permanent residency.
Another five years of continuous residence after that opens the path to citizenship.
APRC Plum Blossom Card (from approximately $480,000)
The Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC), colloquially known as the Plum Blossom Card, is Taiwan’s premium immigration product. It grants permanent residency with reduced physical presence obligations compared to standard residence permits.
Two investment options qualify. You can invest NT$15 million (approximately $480,000) in a for-profit enterprise and create at least five full-time jobs for Taiwanese nationals, maintained for three years. Applicants on this track must have held an Alien Resident Certificate for at least three years.
Alternatively, you can purchase NT$30 million (approximately $960,000) in Taiwanese central government bonds held for a minimum of three years, though this route requires that you have held an ARC for at least five years. In practice, the bond route is also reported to carry additional capital transfer requirements that make it considerably more expensive than the headline figure suggests.
No applicant has reportedly been approved through the bond option alone. Prospective applicants should verify current practical requirements with the National Immigration Agency or a qualified Taiwan immigration attorney before relying on this pathway.
APRC holders enjoy open work rights and can sponsor immediate family members for permanent residency. On physical presence, the rules are more nuanced than a blanket exemption: Starting from January 1 of the year following APRC issuance, if the holder’s average annual residence does not reach 183 days over the most recent five years, the permit may be revoked.
An exception applies to individuals qualifying under Article 19 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, which covers senior professionals and those making special contributions. The Plum Blossom Card is otherwise valid indefinitely.
Gold Card and Global Elite Card
Taiwan’s Employment Gold Card targets professionals earning high salaries or possessing specialized expertise in fields like semiconductors, AI, and finance. It is a talent-based pathway and does not require capital deployment.
The newer Global Elite Card sets the bar higher still, requiring annual income exceeding NT$6 million (approximately $187,000) earned in Taiwan and offering a faster path to permanent residency, though it has attracted criticism for its restrictive income threshold.
Path to Citizenship
Taiwan generally requires that applicants renounce their original citizenship before naturalization. One exception applies to holders of the Plum Blossom Card who qualify through the Senior Professional or Special Contributions streams under the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, who may be eligible to naturalize without renouncing.
Taiwanese citizenship requires five years of continuous residence after obtaining permanent residency, proficiency in Mandarin or Taiwanese, passing a civics examination, and proof of financial independence.
5. China: The World’s Most Exclusive Green Card
China does not operate a golden visa program. It does not offer passive investment-based residency. What it does offer is a permanent residency permit, often called the Chinese Green Card, that has earned a reputation as one of the hardest immigration documents in the world to obtain.
Between 2004 and early 2017, China issued just over 10,000 permanent residency permits to foreign nationals. In 2016, the best year on record, it issued 1,576. For context, the United States issued approximately 1.18 million green cards that same year.
As of 2023, the total number of foreigners holding Chinese permanent residency was estimated at around 12,000.
Investor Pathway Requirements
The investor route requires direct investment in an actual operating business, maintained for a minimum of three consecutive years with a clean tax record. Stock purchases, real estate acquisitions, and fund investments do not count.
You must establish or invest in a Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprise (WFOE), Equity Joint Venture, or Cooperative Joint Venture.
Investment thresholds vary by region. Shanghai’s published standards serve as a benchmark: $2 million or more in eastern China, $1 million in central regions, and $500,000 in western provinces or in sectors listed in the Catalogue for the Guidance of Foreign Investment Industries. These thresholds must be maintained for the full three-year period.
An employment-based route also exists for high earners, and thresholds vary by city. In Shanghai, the current requirement is four consecutive years of employment with an annual salary of at least CNY 886,104 (six times the local average urban wage) and individual income tax payments of at least CNY 177,221 per year.
Beijing applies the same formula: Six times the local average urban wage, which based on 2023 data yields a threshold of approximately CNY 840,000 to CNY 860,000, plus individual income tax payments of at least 20% of the qualifying salary. Both cities require employer sponsorship, four years of consecutive employment, and at least six months of residence in China per year.
These thresholds are recalculated periodically as average wage data update, so specific figures should be verified at the time of application.
What You Get
The Foreign Permanent Resident ID Card, upgraded to the Five-Star Card design in December 2023, grants unlimited duration of stay, visa-free entry and exit, unrestricted employment without a separate work permit, enrollment of children in public schools, and access to the public health insurance system.
Holders are treated as equivalent to Chinese citizens for banking, insurance, and securities transactions.
What You Do Not Get
China does not permit dual citizenship under any circumstances. Naturalization is theoretically possible but exceedingly rare and effectively closed to ordinary applicants.
The permanent residency card must be renewed every ten years for adults and every five years for minors, though the underlying residence right is permanent. A draft regulation published in February 2020 proposed reforms to the permanent residency system, but the proposal provoked intense public backlash and no replacement legislation has been enacted.
For most foreign investors, China’s practical immigration ceiling is the permanent residency permit itself. Citizenship is not a realistic outcome.
Five Programs, One Common Thread
East Asia’s investor visa landscape spans a wide range, from South Korea’s KRW 100 million D-8 entry point to Hong Kong’s HK$30 million CIES and China’s effectively invitation-only green card.
What unites them is a shared expectation that foreign capital should produce something tangible: Jobs in Japan, fund deposits in Korea, portfolio assets in Hong Kong, operating businesses in Taiwan and China.
None of these programs is a shortcut, and all five are getting more expensive. Investors considering this region should verify current thresholds and requirements directly with program authorities or qualified immigration counsel before committing capital, as every program covered here has undergone at least one round of reform in the past two years.
