Mexico City becomes home for a new wave of Chinese immigrants

A new wave of people migrating out of China has found in Mexico a place to build their lives.

Just last year, Mexico issued 5,070 temporary residency visas to Chinese immigrants, double the number of the permits granted in 2022, as reported by AP. Now, the Chinese nationals are third on the list of countries seeking to get regulated status, after the United States and Colombia.

"I want more," Li Daijing, a 30-year-old woman from Chengdu, Sichuan province, who moved to Mexico City told the AP. "I want to be a strong woman. I want independence."

The unexpected surge of Chinese migrants settling down in the North American countries comes as part of a larger exodus of people seeking out new opportunities away from China.

These newcomers come from all walks of life. Some are seeking to escape high unemployment rates among the youth, some scholars are seeking to advance their careers away from the communist ideology, others are looking for investment and business opportunities, and a group of them are opting to avoid the hurdles imposed by the United States.

"It's not just the oppression in the workplace, it's the mentality," said Tan, a 50-year-old man who moved to Mexico this year. "I can feel the political regression, the retreat of freedom and democracy. The implications of that truly make people feel twisted and sick. So, life is very painful."

Last year, the United Nations estimated that China would lose at least 310,000 people to immigration, despite restrictions and regulations. This is compared to the 120,000 leaving the country in 2012.

A growing number of migrants have found their way to a new life by attempting to make their journey up North, from Ecuador to the Mexico-US border, seeking asylum. Their journey starts in Quito, where they can travel without a visa, and continues the trek through the Darién gap on to Panamá.

In the first 9 months of 2023, 15,567 Chinese citizens were registered by Panama's immigration authorities. A gradual increase that started with 913 crossings in January and culminated with almost three times the number of Chinese people, 2,588, traversing the Darien just in September of last year.

Most of the 22,187 Chinese migrants who ended up arrested between January and September 2023 at the US-Mexico border were single adults.

In Mexico City, Chinese immigrants have found a community, which they have been building since the 1990's in neighborhoods like Viaducto-Piedad, close to the city's Chinatown.

"When I asked them why, they would tell me because we live here. We have stores for Chinese consumption, beauty shops and restaurants just for Chinese," said Monica Cinco, a specialist in Chinese migration and general director of the EDUCA Mexico Foundation. "They live there, there is a community and several public schools in the area have a significant Chinese population."