Unlike other European countries where their populations tend to coalesce in “Chinatowns”, Portugal’s Chinese community spread out across the southern European nation. But while their geographical spread might be out of the ordinary, like the Chinese diaspora across the world, business is at the heart everything they do. Portugal’s Chinese immigrants are best known for their discreet presence and the plethora of bargain shops they run in the nation, that until 1999 had run a tiny enclave on China’s south coast – Macau – for the best part of five centuries. But that 500-year relationship is a mere footnote in the story of a fast-growing Chinese population hungry for success. While many go in search of riches, others take riches with them, along with the intention of making even more. The European Union nation became an even more attractive location in 2012, when the Portuguese government launched a fast-track immigration programme for large-scale foreign investors, known as the “golden visa”. Global hunt for the Chinese man behind one of Europe’s biggest ever illegal immigration rackets Under that programme, foreigners get a number of advantages, like a residence visa waiver for entering Portugal and a visa exemption for travelling within the Schengen area. Later they can apply for Portuguese citizenship. By the end of 2015, Portugal had issued 2,788 “golden visas”, resulting from investments of 1.69 billion euros, with 1.53 billion euros stemming from property investments. Around 80 per cent were granted to Chinese nationals. Early in 2015, before becoming prime minister of Portugal, António Costa thanked the country’s new, moneyed Chinese citizens, who he said had helped bolster the country’s economy in difficult times. Last year alone, the scheme attracted 466.26 million euros, an almost 50 per cent drop from 921.31 million euros in 2014, following a corruption scandal involving Portuguese officials and Chinese citizens. The programme was suspended for a few days and new rules were introduced last year, which have slowed down the screening of requests and raised complaints particularly among Chinese investors.