Thousands
of wealthy foreigners are lining up for VISA’s, enabling them to invest in the
USA while putting them on a path to citizenship in the process. The State
Department expects to issue over 6,000 "investor visas" in the
current fiscal year, which would be an all-time record.
Under
the government's EB-5 Immigrant Investor program, foreign investors can get
conditional visas that allow them and their families to live, work and attend
school in the U.S. To qualify for the visa, they must invest at least $1
million in a new or recently created business, or $500,000 for businesses in
rural or high-unemployment areas.
The
investment must be demonstrated to have created or preserved at least 10
full-time jobs for U.S. workers within two years. Assuming this condition is
met, investors and their families graduate to permanent resident status, and
can apply for full citizenship three years later.
While
the EB-5 program has been around since 1990, demand has been surging as of
late, fueled in large part by China's growing elite, who accounted for 70% of
the roughly 3,500 investor visas issued last year. State Department officials
expect the program's quota of 10,000 visas per year, which includes visas given
to the spouses and children of investors, to be filled for the first time ever
within the next year or two.
Some
critics of the U.S. program question the fairness of letting wealthy immigrants
pay for special treatment, while others say investments and job creation claims
need stricter vetting. Immigrants who arrive via the program have no guarantee
of recovering their investments, and may face deportation if they don't produce
the required number of jobs.
Of
the roughly 12,000 immigrants who've arrived on the EB-5 investor visa, just
39% have earned permanent residency, according to USCIS data. There's also the
lengthy application and approval process. The program's reputation for red tape
had dampened interest among foreigners in the preceding years.
Whatever
the program's problems, interest has been growing in recent years, and
meanwhile, the U.S. has faced increasing competition from other countries
trying to woo well-heeled foreigners with the promise of residency or
citizenship.
In
the U.S., the immigrant investor program has been responsible for at least
46,810 jobs and more than $2.3 billion in investments since its inception in
1990, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That's a small
fraction of overall foreign investment in the U.S., but it comes at no cost to
the government. Were the EB-5 program to meet its 10,000-visa quota, it would
contribute more than $4.4 billion to GDP and create or preserve nearly 75,000
jobs annually, according to a 2010 report prepared for the government by
consulting firm ICF International.
The
EB-5 program is up for renewal in the fall, and while USCIS says it has
"no indication" that the initiative will be allowed to expire, some
supporters are more wary.
Source: yahoo news
