China Visa Issues: Another Expat Anecdote

July 20, 2008 – A friend of mine is about to leave China to begin Harvard Business School in the fall. I ran into him the other night and asked him whether he would like me to organize a sendoff. His face lit up initially, but then quickly faded into a look of disappointment. He said that he would have jumped at the idea a few months ago, but many of his friends had recently left Shanghai due to visa issues. This anecdote is illustrative of the scale of this problem within the China expat community.

I think the obvious question here is whether the government really anticipated for the potentially long term negative effects to the economy during this period leading up to the Olympics. Already in Beijing, many hotels have seen dramatic decreases in capacity due to the latest restrictions (see previous blog on Visa Restrictions Threatening Olympic Tourism).

Many expect for the restrictions to be lifted after the Olympics. However, with so many expats having to leave China, one would wonder whether this experience has left a lasting negative impression on their feelings towards doing business here.

For more on the latest Visa restrictions, click here.