China and US visa deal

It was recently announced that the US and China have agreed a deal to end restrictions and grant ten year multiple entry visas to tourists and businesspeople. This follows a number of countries including the UK relaxing visa arrangements in one form or another to encourage Chinese to visit and, one hopes, invest in their countries.

What’s exciting about this is the opportunities it will create for global businesses, in particular for mid market corporates and SMEs.

The huge multinationals have been trading for some time and have had the scale and financial muscle to overcome trade barriers, However, this announcement could be the freeing move to allow growing businesses from the two largest economies to transform from dynamic national into international entities.

At Grant Thornton, in both our China and US firms, we have seen many clients looking to expand in this way and we very much welcome this deal.