Macao Receives Over 2,600 Investment Residency Applications

A total of 2,688 cases of investment residency applications were submitted to the government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in 2008, according to the figures released on Monday by the SAR's Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM).

Among the cases, some 2,072 were fixed asset applications, 596 were applications of managerial personnel, technical and professional qualification holders, and 20 renewal and extension applications for family members, the IPIM said.

Local authorities approved 2,492 cases of all the applications received last year, of which 1,852 concerned fix assets purchase, 618 were applications of managerial personnel, technical and professional qualification holders, and 22 renewal and extension applications for family members.

Macao, an island city with just over 550,000 residents, had a total labor force of over 300,000, and its unemployment rate stood at 3.3 percent during the period of September to November last year, according to the latest statistics. The SAR is also the only place in China where gambling is legal.