Within the huge "run" tide, the middle class has always been the core of Chinese immigrants. Most of them were born after the 1980s reform and opening up of China and its economy, grew up in a more relaxed political period, witnessed China's entry to the World Trade Organization and Beijing's hosting of the Olympic Games, and happened to live in the golden decade of domestic economic development. By middle age, they have developed their own armor: stable jobs, extensive connections, assets, and a relatively rich sense of security. There are also weaknesses: families, especially children. They are also trapped in their comfort zones and unchanging lives, and when they question themselves, it generates anxiety and an urgency to escape the status quo. In addition to their personal lives, the middle class advantages of education, knowledge and information allow them to examine society more, recognize problems within the system, and detect bigger-picture changes in the environment early. At a deeper level, the political disasters of China’s not-so-distant modern history, like a sword hanging over their heads, from time to time triggers their worries and fears of a “disastrous repeat of the past." Immigration is difficult for the middle class to measure in terms of price-performance ratio. Compared with the wealthier class, members of the middle class have fewer resources. Compared with lower income individuals, those in the middle class have more baggage. They give up many of the resources and privileges and leap into unfamiliar environments. For the prospect of starting something new, those in the middle class spend more than half of their life savings just to start all over again. In the realms of education, jobs, and social class, those who were part of a privileged group at home become a marginal group abroad. Those who originally wanted to pursue more value in life may find themselves being “devalued.” Language barriers, not knowing how things work in another country, and dependence on middleman agencies put them at risk of being swindled. Far from the comforts of home, factors such as a modest lifestyle in a foreign land, complex immigration policies, culture shock, housing, transportation, work, childcare... every aspect of daily life become "straws" piled on that create mental and physical stress. It can also rouse inspiration, motivation, and enthusiasm. "Climbing ashore"— after obtaining permanent resident status — does not necessarily mean the end of rebuilding a life. More freedom means more unknowns and challenges, but the pain of transformation is often accompanied by new hope. A Greek adventure In 2018, Andy, who had just celebrated his 40th birthday, frequently visited immigration exhibitions in Beijing. However, the more he talked with various immigration companies, the less direction he had. At that time, the hottest prospect was emigrating to southern Europe. Some of his friends went through the process to emigrate to Portugal, which stirred his heart a bit. Andy – a pseudonym to protect the safety and privacy of him and his family – and his wife were both born and raised in Beijing, both worked at institutions that provided stable incomes, and owned real estate. The couple has no children and love to travel. His wife had studied in the UK, and the two would go overseas whenever they had the opportunity. Andy likes to read, loves calligraphy, and the couple has a like-minded circle of friends. They have always lived a fairly comfortable life. It was through a friend’s recommendation that Andy met with an agency specializing in emigration to Greece, "I was really obsessed with it at that time." Attracted by the real estate investment immigration policy, Andy began to feel that emigrating to Greece was a very good choice. "The policies of the four southern European countries [Portugal、Italy、Greece、Spain] are actually not much different. Greece is more politically stable, the scenery is better, and there is no language requirement. You only need to buy a house worth 250,000 euros (270,000 USD). After being introduced to someone, I thought I could go first then discuss the details.” In August 2018, Andy and his wife took a few days off work and boarded a plane to Athens. After landing, the driver and shopping guide arranged by the middleman agency picked them up and took them to the city to see houses and negotiate prices. In a frenzy, the couple chose an apartment building in the southern part of the city next to the center. The couple signed a contract written in Greek while in the presence of a notary and immigration lawyer. ‘Birth tourism’ Around the same time, Molly, in Shanghai, was also actively preparing to emigrate. As Shanghai natives, Molly and her husband, although not very rich, lived a stable middle class life. They were the same age, and upon graduating from university, he worked as an engineer focusing on automation at a foreign company not far from their home. She studied art at university, and after marriage became a full-time housewife. In addition to picking up her children from school, Molly went to the gym every day for an hour or two. She liked to drink milk tea, and occasionally helped out at a friend's milk tea shop. Five years ago, Molly – a pseudonym to protect the safety and privacy of her and her family – got caught up in the "birth tourism” craze that saw thousands of Chinese women fly to the U.S. to give birth to children who would be U.S. citizens by birth. She traveled to the U.S., where she gave birth to her son, Duoduo. But thinking of Duoduo growing up, his having U.S. citizenship became a big concern for her: "My son always had to leave China, and our permanent residence problem would have to be resolved sooner or later. We were already 30 years old and it’s better to leave earlier than later.” Despite her husband's hesitation, she began to contact immigration agencies to find the most suitable plan for her family. Molly found that they didn’t meet the high requirements of emigrating to the United States. The family did not have enough money to apply for an investment visa. Her husband's English was good, but he was unwilling to go back to school. Her English was not very good. Under the advice of the agency, Molly chose Canada and the path of obtaining a visa through employer sponsorship. In Canada, employer sponsorship visas are granted by those with desired skills. After a worker finds a qualified Canadian employer, their employer needs to prove to the immigration office that it cannot find suitable local hires and needs to recruit overseas talent. Work permits obtained by overseas workers are "closed work permits," a status that does not allow workers to change jobs until they are granted permanent residence status. In the second half of 2019, Molly’s husband, who had been working steadily for almost 15 years, finally was persuaded. She paid $150,000 CAD (115,000 USD) to an agency in Shanghai to appoint a local Canadian immigration agent to match her husband with a suitable employer in Canada. ‘Pink card’ for a new life In May 2019, Andy received a notice from the immigration company that their Athens house purchase paperwork was finalized, the Greek immigration procedures were completed, and they could fly to Greece to apply for a "pink card" – the nickname for Greece's immigrant visa. Andy sold his small house on Beijing's 5th Ring Road and spent 320,000 euros (348,000 USD) to buy and decorate the new Athens house and for the couple’s immigration application. Hearing the news that Andy was about to emigrate, many of his relatives and friends expressed puzzlement. To outsiders, Andy and his wife were holding an “iron rice bowl” of secure employment, and they could retire easily with excellent medical benefits. What was better outside of China? In fact, Andy's desire to emigrate was not new. In his twenties, he had a vague desire to emigrate. He had an impossible-to-shake sense of dissatisfaction with life in Beijing, especially with the severe air pollution that plagued the Chinese capital. "I wore a gas mask to work for a while, and it's not an exaggeration...when you scrape car windshields with your fingernails, there's a layer of black mud!" Over the past 15 years, Beijing's air quality and PM2.5 [microparticulate pollution measures] levels have been a hot environmental issue. In 2008, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing began monitoring air quality in its vicinity and posting daily PM2.5 data on Twitter, often showing the discrepancy between the air quality data released by the embassy and official data released by Beijing. In 2011, as Beijing's smoggy weather was upsetting many people, the U.S. Embassy's release of data on severe air pollution caused strong concern and upset Chinese officials. Environmental decline, loss of quality of life, and an unchanging work routine made Andy urgently seek out opportunities for a change. In 2018, there were rumors circulating around Andy and his wife’s workplace that employees would be required to give up their passports, which solidified Andy’s decision. Three waves since 1949 Molly's family had never left Shanghai. Life in one’s hometown is stable and relaxed, so why would they want to emigrate? "I like America,” said Molly. “It’s a little fairer, a little less nepotistic, and a little better for children." Molly felt that she and her family had no "connections" in China, their lives and their child’s future were destined to be mediocre, and her life as a housewife had given her even more of a glimpse of that future. She also wanted to emigrate because she wanted to change her lifestyle. Concerning Duoduo, she said, "We can't raise him the way we want in China." Free and tolerant Western-style education is more suitable for a child’s development than China’s examination-oriented education, she believed. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, there have been roughly three waves of emigration from mainland China. At the end of the 1970s, after the catastrophic Cultural Revolution, Chinese people longed to escape chronic poverty, and leaving China was mostly illegal immigration. In the early 1990s, due to the rapid development of China's economy through reform and opening up, many international students went abroad desiring a better life overseas. Glen Cao’s hit 1991 novel "Beijinger in New York," based on the author’s own immigrant story, reflected the faces of this new wave of immigrants. After the turn of the millennium, the motivations for emigration became more diversified, and the next wave was mostly the newly wealthy class and intellectual elites. Middle-class clientele It was at this time that Emma became involved in the emigration services industry. In her opinion, the class background of clients is more diverse than it was a decade ago. In the past, to do well in the industry, it was all about the company’s brand and scale, but now it’s more about volume and service. "After all, there are now more platforms. You send a video in Xiaohongshu [a social media and e-commerce platform] and customers will come to you. Immigration is no longer a high-end service exclusively for the wealthy class. It is becoming more and more common.” The 35-year-old Emma – a pseudonym to protect the safety and privacy of her and her family – opened a small emigration services company with two partners in 2021. Soon after opening, they were confronted by the pandemic, but it did not slow down her business. Her firm mainly targets middle-class clients in the mainland and Hong Kong, offering a variety of services to traditionally popular North American and European countries and even to emerging Asian immigration markets such as Singapore, Japan, and Thailand. Most of Emma’s middle-class clients are in their 30s to 50s and include university professors, doctors, and mid-level managers or private company owners. Most of them have children and pay special attention to their children’s education. Coupled with the fact that they hold disposable assets of about 1 million to 5 million yuan (145,000 to 725,000 USD), many think about emigrating. Some middle-class people choose the more costly path of buying houses or seeking investment visas to avoid the immigration language barriers. Others first move their assets and then apply for places like Hong Kong and Singapore for lower tax rates or better education options. Other middle class clients settle for second best, emigrating abroad through skilled labor or study abroad programs. According to the "2021 China Immigration Industry Data Report" released by Baidu, the main reasons for Chinese emigration include high property prices, medical benefits, children's education and pension benefits. The main immigration method is purchasing a house, accounting for more than 75% of those who move abroad. Investment, skilled labor, and study immigration paths make up the rest. "Immigration is about having money and spending money; having power and exerting power. To pursue a better life, you definitely have to work hard,” said Emma. She said she believes that emigrating overseas does not require a middleman agent, that anyone can do it, but her job is to help customers save time and effort. Middleman chaos To help the whole family apply for a Greek "pink card," Andy, his wife, and their parents—a total of six people—traveled to Greece again. In September 2019, the four elderly parents flew back to Beijing, leaving Andy and his wife behind, and the immigrant "honeymoon period" ended sooner than they expected. Andy soon realized that the "pink card" was not permanent resident status, but rather a long-term visa that had to be renewed before it expired. To hold this long-term visa, he always had to keep a property in Greece worth more than 250,000 euros (272,000 USD). The real estate market in Athens, on the other hand, had been saturated for many years and lacked the potential for appreciation, making it difficult to buy and sell. Central Athens, which migration agents are most keen to introduce to their clients, seems to be convenient for transportation or tourism, but in fact is mostly vacant areas, slums, and refugee areas. The wealthy live in the south side of the city near the Aegean Sea, or in the mountains in the north. When Andy arrived in Greece, he found that the Greek bank had assessed his property as worth only 120,000 euros (132,00 USD), less than half the purchase price. It was difficult to estimate how much money Greek real estate companies and his middleman agent had siphoned off. "Middlemen are all shady," Andy complained angrily. "They’re all liars. There is no such thing as a middleman who only charges agent fees. A house worth 100,000 becomes 200,000 sold to you; that is a conscious move by the middleman. There are plenty of people out there that will change it to 500,000. Some agents claim to help customers allocate their assets to buy a house and then rent it out for you, which is all fraudulent. If you want to emigrate, you must avoid intermediaries.” In 2019, Greece's new right-wing Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis came to power, and the Greek Ministry of Labor issued a new legal document stipulating that foreigners with "golden visas" would not be given social insurance registration numbers, which is equivalent to canceling the right of "pink card" holders to enjoy publicly-funded medical care in Greece. "We're not even as good as those refugees, we don't have health benefits and we can't work yet." Andy recalled the process of his original migration: "We thought we were thorough and careful; there were no blind trust agencies, and we went to Greece to see the house, but the result was still not as good as we originally had imagined." Lost money In Canada, Molly's immigration process had also stalled. After starting to process employer sponsorship immigration in Vancouver in 2019, the agent quickly matched Molly's husband with an employer early the following year. In the second half of 2020, his application for employer sponsorship was rejected. The immigration bureau considered the size of the employing company too small, that there was no need to recruit from abroad, and the materials submitted by the agent were not convincing. So it rejected Molly's husband's application for employer sponsorship. All of a sudden, the couple’s path to immigration seemed blocked. Molly believes that the middlemen were mostly responsible for the rejection and for failing to find a suitable employer for her husband, and says she can’t get the money back or change agencies. "Once the money is paid, your fate is out of your hands. You say that you want the money returned, but the middleman is in Canada, so how can it be returned to you? If it gets worse, they will directly block your WeChat, and your money will be lost.” Molly's agent promised to find another employer and resubmit the application. This time, Molly's husband was matched to a chemical plant in Vancouver's outskirts for automation-related work. In reality, the job was doing manual work in the factory. Molly and her husband accepted. ‘Spending money to solve problems’ Emma says the relationship between the intermediary and the customer needs to be handled carefully. To avoid disputes, she made a rule for herself: "Customers who cannot accept losses can’t do it." "Immigration is not a profitable business, in the sense that if there is investment, there must be a return. If you buy a house to immigrate, the house may not maintain its value. In investment visa immigration, funds may be lost. Applications for jobs or study abroad may be rejected." It is more difficult for middle class customers to give up their resources and connections in China, and they do not want their lives after immigrating to be worse than they were back home. So it is inevitable people will weigh and calculate options throughout the immigration process. Some are unwilling to suffer losses and hardships, Emma says. Middle-class clients seem to think that spending money will solve problems when they find intermediaries, reflecting their reliance on this method in solving problems in China. "There are also clients who like to ask me: 'How do I survive when I go there?' They want you to plan everything, including how they will make money, how they will live, and even how to avoid taxes and what benefits they will get after they go abroad. But the agents are only responsible for helping you with the procedures, aren’t they?” Emma is worried that competition in the immigration industry has led many peers to publish attractive but misleading advertisements. "Some agents will simplify the immigration process and requirements and describe the destinations as beautiful and attractive to people. Not all clients can evaluate this type of information posted by intermediaries.” Imperfect knowledge coupled with a blind dependence on "spending money to solve problems" have led to the downfall of many aspiring middle-class emigrants in China, making them face various risks on the path to immigration. For those like Andy and Molly, having their money consumed by middleman agencies and their immigration process delayed, this may only be the tip of the iceberg. Others encounter scams where they are told everything has been arranged… except for the actual immigration, and their money is completely wasted. In 2022, it was revealed that the China-based overseas real estate company Wanguo Land was suspected of luring Chinese people to apply for investment visas to the U.S. in the name of real estate development, swindling people out of at least 26 million USD. In 2018, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that Australian real estate investment company Ausin China closed after taking about 70 million Australian dollars (46 million USD) in real estate deposits from 200 Chinese buyers. These middle class families were negotiating with Ausin China to sign investment visa immigration agreements. A final goodbye At the end of 2020, Andy received news that his mother was critically ill. When he first proposed emigrating, she was the person who supported him the most. In 2019, his mother returned to China shortly after going to Greece to collect her "pink card." Unexpectedly, this parting turned out to be a final separation. He hurriedly booked a plane ticket and rushed to see his mother for the last time. However, this was during the Covid-19 pandemic and China had implemented strict immigration controls. Returning to Beijing was easier said than done. After several complications, Andy returned to his hometown. During the days he was required to spend in quarantine at a hotel, he missed his mother’s passing and her funeral, which became his deepest regret. After his mother's funeral, Andy remained in Beijing to stay with his father. On his first time back in China since immigrating to Greece, he found himself "dissatisfied," he said. "Beijing's leeks are really poisonous. Buy them and soak them for a few hours, then wash them several times, eat them and you still have stomach troubles.” Andy recalled the food in Athens: "The fish in Athens have transparent internal organs; unlike in Beijing where the internal organs are porridge-like.” Three months later, Andy decided to return to Greece. He once again reflected on his experience and bid a final farewell to Beijing: "Some people only want to leave when they encounter setbacks, but not me. I know that life is not as good as you think it will be. In reality you are nothing and have nothing... Chinese people have their assets in their houses; it's all a bubble. The wealth of life lies elsewhere.” Beating the lockdown In Shanghai, Molly's husband's second application for employer sponsorship was finally approved, and he got the work permit. In October 2021, he quit his Shanghai job and left for Vancouver. Molly originally planned to continue to take care of their child in Shanghai, wait for the provincial approval of her husband's immigration application, and then go to Canada with her husband to wait for the final review. However, she was worried that immigration policy would be further tightened due to the Covid pandemic, so she decided to leave with her child early. On Feb. 28, 2022, she boarded a plane with Duoduo, who was four years old at the time. "A week after I arrived in Vancouver, some friends in WeChat started saying that there were positive cases in the neighborhood where they lived, and the whole community was locked down. What happened in Shanghai later, the whole world knew about,” Molly said. Witnessing Shanghai's harsh lockdown from Vancouver made Molly feel lucky. "If you watch [state broadcaster] CCTV, you think life is good, but if you watch YouTube, you will find that this was not the case." She called her mother, who remained in Shanghai, and her mother said that Molly left at the perfect time. After the lockdown in Shanghai in April 2022, Emma's customer inquiries nearly quadrupled. "It started when the city was closed, and at the end of April I received messages from several Shanghai clients asking how to apply for an elite visa for Thailand." Online data show that during Shanghai's lockdown, the number of searches for "immigration" on China’s search engines skyrocketed. Baidu's search volume for "conditions for moving to Canada" surged to first place, up 2,846% month-on-month, and "where is it good to go abroad?" ranked second, with a 2,455% increase. The highest increase in immigration searches came from Shanghai, with over a 100% increase. On the eve of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, industry members began to spread news that authorities would overhaul the immigration industry. Several WeChat groups Emma belonged to were disbanded, and some colleagues began to delete their WeChat accounts and even stop their passport application processes. However, the number of customer inquiries increased. Many customers who were hesitant before had made up their minds to emigrate. Customers began replying to Emma on WeChat, replacing sensitive phrases with three words: "You understand why." Inevitable pay cut Nearly a year after arriving in Canada, Molly told a friend, "I really don't want to cook anymore." Not long before, the family had moved out of the basement they rented when they first arrived in Vancouver. Worried that the air in the basement would affect their child’s health, the couple moved to a small town south of Vancouver near the Canada-U.S. border and rented an apartment. Molly’s husband worked eight hours a day, four days a week, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the chemical plant. The factory was a 100-kilometer (62-miles) round trip that took 50 minutes each way by car – a far cry from his previous 10-minute commute in Shanghai. The work was more tiring than before, and the salary was not much more than he made back in China. Most of his colleagues were Westerners, so language barriers limited in-depth chats. To supplement their income, Molly got a job as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant, working the dayshift Friday and Saturday. The couple rearranged their schedule and took turns working and babysitting. Duoduo’s school did not provide lunch, so Molly cooked to provide healthier meals. She was busy until Duoduo went to bed, with no time left for anything else. Molly, who used to love exercising, no longer had time to go to the gym. The family didn't even visit Vancouver much, "just like Shanghai residents don't go to People's Square," Molly said, referring to a prominent gathering place in the city. Speaking of her husband, who gave up more than a decade at a stable, well-paid job, Molly said that his pay cut was inevitable, but her husband knew how to be frugal. She also overheard her husband’s answers to questions about immigration from relatives and friends in China: "If it’s for the good of your children, you should leave. If it's for your own good, don't waste your time." She said she deeply believes that when one leaves one’s own country, you must have a strong heart and learn to adjust your mentality. What makes Molly most uncomfortable is the nervousness of waiting for the provincial approval of her immigration application. Each province in Canada has its own immigration policies, and the review process is uncertain, so she doesn’t know how long it will take. She saw online that some people quickly received provincial nominations and federal review, while others submitted documents long ago and hadn’t heard a word in reply. She counts the days and hopes to get provincial approval within a year, so that she and her family can get their “Maple Leaf Card” as soon as later this year. Before that happens, however, her life is "locked up." Her husband and his employer are bound together. He can’t change jobs and "their fate is completely in the hands of others." She also doesn't have the time and energy to learn new things and find a new job. Their two salaries don’t add up to much and they are unable to make ends meet, but fortunately they can rely on savings. The problem of permanent residency has become the biggest hurdle for the family, hindering all possibilities for them to improve their lives. "What else is there to do? You can only wait.” Language barrier Andy also has to draw on his savings in Greece. The low cost of living in Greece allows him and his wife to live carefree. They often travel within Greece and to other places in Europe, and also hang out with local Chinese friends to pass the time. Andy, when he had just arrived in Greece, dreamt every night that he would go back to work. The dream lasted two or three months before it stopped. Then, Andy began wanting to find a job. "There is nothing to do, and there is nothing to sustain (me)." The couple hired a Greek teacher who tutored them two hours a week for 20 euros (21 USD) each. After three months, Andy finally stumbled his way through learning verbs from nouns but could not learn anymore. "A verb can have more than 20 variations; it's too hard." The language barrier shook his confidence in becoming a naturalized Greek citizen. "If you can't understand it, then you really don’t know what’s going on. It's even difficult to get a job in a supermarket." Emma once helped a client go to Canada’s British Columbia province through employer sponsorship. The client, who had worked in airport ground services, was matched to a farm to pick fruit. In fact, many applicants who emigrate to Canada through employer sponsorship have not found the same type of work as they had in China. Canada lacks laborers, and these basic jobs are the easiest to successfully match. It is very common for those who enter via employer sponsorship to go from white-collar worker in China to blue-collar worker in Canada. Some people even need to use money out of their own pockets to cover the basics while doing the labor required by the employer sponsorship. During the pandemic, the farm shut down for a while, and Emma's client didn't get paid for months and needed to find short-term jobs in the local area to cover their expenses. "Immigration is equivalent to leaving your comfort zone, and there are always many inconveniences," said Emma. She believes that many middle-class customers are not necessarily weak in English or work ability, but they may not be mentally prepared to face certain challenges. Some customers successfully get the "Maple Leaf Card," then decide to leave Canada because they can't bear the cold Canadian winters and apply instead to settle in Hong Kong. "Many people try their best to get out, and they find that the moon outside is not round either,” says Emma. “It takes determination to persevere.” A past that cannot be returned to and a future that has not yet arrived In October 2022, Greece announced that it would raise the investment threshold for the golden visa from 250,000 euros to 500,000 euros (270,000 to 540,000 USD), and further changes in the future would not be ruled out. According to a report by the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International, by 2018 the largest beneficiaries of Europe's golden visa program were applicants from China. More than 20,000 Chinese nationals have landed in Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Britain on such visas. Worried that the European Union will cancel the golden visa program by 2025, Andy and his wife plan to relocate to Canada or the U.S.. They asked people from all over with relevant experience. "The main thing is to find something to do, and the policy in Greece is also unstable,” said Andy. “It would be best if we could find a steady job in Toronto, Vancouver–or somewhere in the United States, and the two of us can settle down." Even if Greece was not to be the end point of their migration, Andy said he didn't consider turning back. "The only thing I can't give up now are my elderly family members. If I had to do it all over again, I would still choose to emigrate. People will encounter difficulties wherever they go, and they always have to face reality.” After leaving, although he sacrificed the warmth of family, Andy said he gained freedom and quality of life, which he thought was worth it. "If we hadn't sold the house in the 5th Ring, we might have traded it for a bigger house now, and we would be scrambling to pay off the mortgage." ‘What are my goals?’ After moving to Canada, Molly was clearly aware of the change in her son. Back when they lived in Shanghai, Duoduo inevitably cried every time before going to school, and Molly had to work with the school security guard on the daily drama of sending her child to kindergarten. But now, Duoduo looks forward to school every day. “He said that teachers in Shanghai did not let children go out to play, let alone take naps. Now he comes home from school with his pants torn or his clothes dirty, and he is happy every day.” The change in Molly's son is very gratifying and strengthens her confidence in her decision to immigration: "Children's lives are provided by adults. If we didn’t leave, then my son would still go to kindergarten, but he would cry every day.” In March 2023, Molly's family finally received provincial clearance of her application. She immediately contacted her agent to prepare for the federal review stage. Molly says her vision of an ideal life after getting their residency would have her husband change to a better job – preferably work related to his previous job, and with a multinational company in Canada or the U.S.. Their household could make ends meet, afford a mortgage to buy a house, and live without tight financial constraints. She wants to improve her English and is interested in baking, and perhaps even taking a baking class to explore new career possibilities. "Now I look forward to getting residency status. When true residency really comes through, I may be more confused. Because you really have to think about what you are going to do here. How should we proceed on the path ahead? What are my goals?” ‘We can do it in this lifetime’ In Athens, Andy is getting ready to resubmit his wife’s application for a study permit to Canada, after it was rejected. "Still thinking about trying it again," he says. Andy believes that his wife’s background of having studied abroad gives her a good chance of getting a Canadian study permit. "We will keep the Greek house and see about future policy developments." But Canada's welfare policies and economic environment are much better than Greece's, and Andy hopes that the second leg of immigration will be their final stop. "Our requirements are simple; we want to go to Canada to find a city to settle down, live a simple life, preferably find a job, and be self-reliant. We can do it in this lifetime.” Life after the pandemic is returning to normal, and Emma's branch of the immigration consultancy in Hong Kong has reopened. After three years of the pandemic, she is also thinking of following the path of her clients and emigrating herself. "I originally thought that emigration was the goal, to help you to optimize your capital or escape your current place of residence. But now, it is more of a spiritual path for me, the practice of the Dao, to help find a better life. Every place has good and bad aspects, and you are looking for the place that best suits your current state.”