The Global Reach of Globevisa Group: Why We Don't Just Serve the Chinese Diaspora

Hello everyone.

Today, I want to talk about Globevisa's globalization journey. I am addressing this because of a comment I read recently. Someone asked, "Why does Globevisa need 55 offices worldwide just to serve the Chinese diaspora? Is that really necessary?"

This reflects a massive misunderstanding of our international expansion. The reality is that for years, our global offices have been dedicated to developing local business in their respective countries, completely separate from our Chinese-speaking operations. Because many people only see us through the lens of the Asian market, they miss the broader scope of our development.

I want to take this opportunity to clarify exactly what Globevisa’s globalization looks like. We began this initiative a decade ago, but over the last five years, I have personally gone "all in" on driving our international expansion.

Mapping the Global Immigration Market

In our industry, we categorize countries into two types: Inbound markets (destinations where people immigrate to) and Outbound markets (regions where people emigrate from). Some countries have a mix of both, but generally, a market leans heavily in one direction.

Globevisa’s global strategy is entirely focused on the Outbound market.

Historically, China has been the largest single outbound market. Beyond that, the major outbound regions are:

● Southeast Asia

● South Asia (primarily India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh)

● The Middle East

● Africa and Latin America

When we launched our internationalization strategy, the goal was never to simply serve overseas Chinese expats in these regions. Our objective was to penetrate and serve the local demographics in these massive outbound markets. Currently, our most successful expansions are in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East.

Southeast Asia: Zero Chinese Spoken in Management

We have established multiple offices across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia. In these four countries, none of our office directors speak Chinese.

How could they possibly be serving the Chinese diaspora? They are entirely focused on their local markets. Whether through joint-venture partnerships or direct-owned subsidiaries, these offices operate in the local languages and sign local clients.

We also have direct-owned offices in Malaysia and Singapore. Interestingly, in our Singapore office, about a third of our signed clients are now Indian or Malaysian nationals. While the Singapore team is predominantly ethnically Chinese, their client base is highly diverse and international.

South Asia: The Indian Market is a Headache, But Essential

In South Asia, we operate in Bangladesh and Pakistan. But our biggest footprint is in India, where we surprisingly have three offices (two joint ventures and one direct subsidiary).

To be frank, our business volume in India is not yet massive because the market is incredibly difficult. We have had to learn so much. Over the years, we have experienced numerous failures and setbacks there, but we keep pushing forward.

The nuances of global markets are fascinating. For example, in Bangladesh, we heavily promote the Malaysian residency programs and the US EB-3 (Unskilled Worker) visa. The EB-3 is highly successful for us in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Bangladesh. However, we cannot promote the EB-3 in India or China at all due to massive immigration backlogs.

The Pakistani and Indian markets are very different from each other. India is particularly challenging because the North, South, East, and West are entirely distinct—different languages, different religions, different business cultures. It is a massive headache. However, from a long-term strategic perspective, India is an outbound market you simply cannot ignore. We entered India years ago, paid a steep "tuition fee" through early failures, and learned some bloody lessons. But we have finally found our footing.

Today, we are doing quite well in India with the US EB-5 investor visa and various European programs. Because we survived our early failures, we have built a resilient and recognized brand in the Indian market.

The Middle East: Our Dubai Office is a "Mini UN"

We have been remarkably successful in the Middle East, which surprises me because we entered this market relatively late.

Our flagship office is in Dubai. Interestingly, our Dubai office signs a massive number of Russian clients. The team there is incredibly polyglot. The director, who lived in Russia for years, speaks fluent Russian, Turkish, English, and Arabic. She speaks almost everything except Chinese! Our Dubai office operates like a mini United Nations, successfully serving clients from across the Middle East and the CIS regions.

Beyond Dubai, we have an office in Bahrain (which also covers Saudi Arabia), an office in Lebanon (which surprisingly also serves Palestinian clients), and an office in Egypt that has been operating for over two years.

Even more fascinating, we have a joint-venture office in Israel. Due to the current geopolitical situation, Israel has rapidly become an outbound immigration market. That is a stark reality.

Finally, our Turkey office is one of our strongest performers in the region. We have been established there for a long time and currently rank as the top one or two immigration firms in the country. The director doesn't speak Chinese and couldn't serve the Chinese market even if she wanted to. The Turkey office is 100% dedicated to signing local Turkish citizens.

Africa and Latin America: Willing to Pay the "Tuition"

We have always wanted to break into the African market, but it is notoriously difficult. Currently, we have a joint-venture office in Nigeria, marking our third attempt in the country. Nigeria is a massive, English-speaking outbound market, but establishing trust and operational integrity there has been a significant hurdle.

We are determined to pilot our African expansion through South Africa and Nigeria because the English-speaking environments make management easier. Our previous Cape Town office failed, but tomorrow, our expansion team has arranged a meeting for me with a potential new partner for South Africa. We will see how it goes. For Nigeria, we recently partnered with a Nigerian national living in Sweden. I am willing to keep paying the "tuition" of failure to eventually unlock these massive English-speaking markets.

Then there is Latin America. We briefly had an office in Peru, but we closed it down. The cultural differences in Latin America are profound. However, I am committed to having a presence there. The Investment Migration Council (IMC) is hosting an event in Argentina this November; I am debating whether to fly all the way there. I believe our Latin American breakthrough will eventually come through partnerships in Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, or perhaps Mexico. We just need to find the right local partners.

The Paradigm Shift: Americans Are Emigrating

Historically, our offices in Western Europe and North America (the traditional "Inbound" markets) were established to provide landing and settlement services for our global clients moving to those countries.

But a fascinating paradigm shift has occurred in recent years. Countries like the US, the UK, and Germany have suddenly become Outbound markets. Americans and Brits are now emigrating in record numbers.

If you look at the applicant demographics for programs like the New Zealand investor visa or the Portuguese Golden Visa, US citizens are consistently ranking first or second. It is incredible to witness Americans becoming a major demographic for outbound immigration.

Because of this shift, we are adapting. Previously, our teams in these countries were predominantly Chinese-speaking, focused on settling incoming clients. Now, seeing the massive outbound potential, we are building local teams to penetrate the domestic US and European markets.

Our Strategy: Go Where the Clients Are

Our globalization strategy is simple: We go where the clients are.

If we have the internal capability, we open a direct subsidiary. If we lack local expertise, we partner with a local entrepreneur. We structure these joint ventures like a franchise model—they leverage the Globevisa brand, our global project portfolio, and most importantly, our strict compliance standards and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

I am deeply passionate about this. I am writing this from Capri, Italy—a place I had never visited before. Walking around earlier, I realized Capri is exactly what I always imagined Monaco to be. Everyone was impeccably dressed, the atmosphere was electric, and it felt like walking through a movie set. But as a mere tourist, you never truly understand the inner workings of a place.

That is my personal motivation for globalization. Our corporate goal is to serve the world, but my personal goal is to understand the world. When you open a local office, hire local staff, study local marketing, and navigate local politics and economics, you gain an incredibly profound understanding of a country.

Every Market is Built on "Blood, Sweat, and Tears"

I want to make it absolutely clear: Globevisa’s international expansion is not just about following the Chinese diaspora. Serving the Chinese market is relatively straightforward for us because we have decades of highly replicable success there.

But believe me, entering these foreign local markets has been a journey of blood, sweat, and tears.

We operate locally, which means confronting vastly different cultures, languages, and religions. For instance, I once had to navigate a cultural misunderstanding in Pakistan where our local team refused to process a specific "financing" immigration project because it conflicted with local religious financial principles. Moments like that drive me crazy, but they are vital learning experiences.

Over the years, amidst our successes, we have endured countless failures. I tend to forget the successes quickly, but the failures are etched into my memory because they taught us the most. We have worked incredibly hard to localize our business and earn the trust of clients worldwide.

That is the true story of Globevisa's globalization.

Thank you for reading. If you are interested in exploring global mobility and residency planning, please feel free to leave a message.