Rising migration leaves advisory agencies richer

Children's educational prospects are now one of the main reasons Chinese citizens are thinking about moving overseas, recent data show.

Since 2008, the number of Chinese students in foreign countries has risen by about 20 percent a year.

In 2012, that figure was close to 400,000, according to the Annual Report on Chinese International Migration 2014 released by the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

That increase also has provided a boost to migration agencies in China.

The number of clients seeking emigration has grown by 30 percent in 2013 year-on-year, said Zhao Hua, a manager at Aoji Star International Education Consultant Ltd, a private migration agency based in Beijing.

According to Zhao, there are generally three reasons Chinese citizens seek to emigrate: a cleaner environment and better food safety; educational prospects for their children; and a fully developed welfare system .

But she added that it's hard to say what drives the current emigration momentum.

"A trend in our business now is that the percentage of clients aged below 40 is increasing," said Zhao, adding that people between 30 and 40 years old comprised 30 percent of their clients last year, which constitutes a significant rise in this younger demographic.

According to Wang Lu, a staffer in the marketing department of Aoji Star International, "a large number of our clients listed their children's education as a primary reason for deciding to emigrate."

New Fortune magazine also said that in a recent survey, 76.7 percent of Chinese respondents gave their children's education as the reason they sought to emigrate.

In discussing why studying abroad with permanent residency is better than just being an international student, Zhao said that first and foremost, it means much lower tuition.