June 30, 2008 -- Over the last three weeks I have said farewell to more than a dozen long-term China expatriates. Most of them weary of the old and new visa restrictions and the impossibility of ever obtaining a permanent resident's card. They hail from education, entertainment,media, high-tech and other sectors. No one has immunity in the newest immigration rout.

The government has largely sold the move as an attempt to secure the Olympics and prevent a terrorist attack on Chinese soil. From my vantage point it doesn't seem to quite make sense as a deterrent to an international drama.

In the place of one-year multiple entry visas, China is allowing shorter term permits–one to three months– that now encompass the dates of Olympic competition. I doubt that an instigator of intrigue or trouble cares about his subsequent ability to return to China and barter for a Mao watch at the Great Wall. These new restrictions and the doubling of prices for a travel document (note: they now match those of most other countries) are also suspect as security tools. Business and tourist visas now cost more and they must be renewed more often. The motivation doesn't seem to be safety.

And the citizens of 33 countries (America is not one of the countries targeted) now have to return to their homeland to get a visa renewed. Before it could be done in a neighboring country or Special Administrative office in Macau or Hong Kong. Most disconcerting is that many of the countries targeted have severe pigmentation, rather than ideology, differences with Beijing. In the African Quarter of Guangzhou, near the home of one of the country's oldest Mosques not destroyed by Mao, there are bright LED signs riveted to walls and flashing warnings to foreigners in multiple languages (Arabic, French…) about violationg country laws. I have not seen these signs posted anywhere else in Guangdong. The general feeling among Africans is that the new rules are merely a convenient way to rid the city of a long unwanted ethnic element.

Many of the people I know that have been affected, and yes, this is an anecdotal assessment, come from trade companies that have done business in China, some for over a decade. With the new cost of travel and the time lost to red tape these small businesses will have to amortize the financial impact, It is causing some to look toward cheaper or more internationally receptive markets like Thailand and Vietnam.

Teachers were affected about a year ago when the government stopped processing visa renewals and work permits regionally. Now, all education hires must be processed outside of mainland China. In Guangzhou, a highly qualified business visa holder could once have lectured at a college or university and bypass myriad education ministry rituals meant to ensure teacher quality with their "foreign expert" certification requirements. But the police searched records this year and several local colleges were forced to let go of instructors, some in the middle of their teaching semesters. Ironically, the new rules have not upped the standards, but have driven institutions scramble and they solicit anyone (anyone white) and with a pulse for positions. And because institutions know that the new teachers won't be around for long, especially now, the foreigners are generally saddled with mind-numbing oral English classes even if they hold credentials or have experience that qualify them for other jobs.

And there is virtually no hope for a foreigner who hopes to dedicate his career to pedagogy in the Middle Kingdom. Guangdong has long had a moratorium on resident visas and as I have written many times before: the number of "Green Cards" given to just Chinese immigrants to the U.S. in a two day period exceeds the total number of cards given to all successful foreign applicants in the whole of China in an entire year.

So far the travel and visa hassles have caused an estimated 20% overall drop in tourism income. That means that the amount lost to the economy exceeds the billions raised world-wide for earthquake relief by roughly a factor of three. What a waste.

And this week I volunteered my time to a new NGO that asked me not to recruit too many expats. They expressed concern that if too many foreigners became a part of the relief efforts in Sichuan that the government might revoke their politically fragile charter.

I do love China. I hope I am able to stay and contribute personally and professionally in a heartfelt and meaningful way to my adopted home.

This column originally appeared as a post on the blog Onemanbandwidth

Lonnie B. Hodge is a China business consultant based in Shenzhen and the author of the blog Onemanbandwidth.