The U.S. investment visa program offers foreign entrepreneurs a green card and the right to become a U.S. citizen in return for their investment in the creation of new jobs in the United States.
Created in the 1990s, this program seeks to attract foreign entrepreneurs who are prepared to invest money in opening businesses in blighted cities or underdeveloped rural areas sorely in need of new jobs. These are businesspeople who are not so much drawn by the income from invested capital as by the possibility of getting a green card and becoming a U.S. citizen. The flow of foreign capital into agriculture, tourism, renewable energy resources, education and transportation has recently increased thanks to this program.
The minimum requirements for an EB-5 visa applicant are the investment of $500,000 in any of the abovementioned sectors and the creation of at least 10 new jobs for Americans. [The EB-5 visa provides the most flexible path to a green card based on a U.S. investment. The EB-5 visa does not require the applicant to manage the day-to-day affairs of a business. One may invest in an existing business, or a new business. More than one person may invest in the same business. The EB-5 investor may be a minority owner of the business.] After the entire amount has been invested and it has become clear that the business is legitimate, and that it really does employ no less than 10 U.S. residents, both the entrepreneur and his/her family can become permanent residents. To convince immigration authorities that the visa is not for a person connected to a terrorist organization, investors are also required to prove that they obtained the $500,000 legally and that they do not owe taxes in their native country. They must also have an interview at the embassy.
The EB-5 visa has recently become quite popular with investors from South Korea, China, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. Reasons for this include political instability at home and the increased activity of immigration lawyers who have popularized this legal and simple way of entering the United States.
Kim Sun-Te, a South Korean computer programmer, wanted to move to the United States so that his daughters could get a good education. He was denied a work visa and decided to invest money while he had saved over 20 years, in a dairy farm in South Dakota, a state that has recently been very active in trying to attract foreign capital to develop its meat and dairy industry. Over the past two years, foreigners have invested over $90 million in dairy farms and another $52 million in packing plants. Investors themselves do not have to move to the areas where the farms or factories are located: all they have to do is invest money to develop the business. Kim Sun-Te and his family settled not in South Dakota, but in the suburbs of Los Angeles, where the schools are very good.
Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, said: "I think this is an excellent program. It makes it possible for foreigners who have capital and business skills and who can benefit America to enter the country, even if they do not meet the requirements of other immigration programs. Our country must keep the door open for people like this. After all, globalization is not only the exchange of goods and services between countries, but also investment by both large international companies and by small and medium-sized developers. By investing money in the U.S. economy, entrepreneurs from other countries create additional jobs and produce products that are needed."
Mr. Griswsold was also concerned about the ethics of a country that would sell a green card for $500,000: "It's completely ethical. Every sovereign state decides for itself what kind of visas it will issue and to whom. We have many different criteria concerning family composition, education and profession for visa applicants. In this case, the United States is being guided by market forces. It is important to stress that both sides win: entrepreneurs get permanent residence and the United States gains residents with capital and interesting business ideas.”
Number of green cards on the rise
In the last fiscal year ending September 30, the U.S. of Citizenship and Immigration Services issued 803 green cards to people who entered the United States on EB-5 visas. If the quota on these visas remains the same, 10,000 green cards will be issued by 2011 to investors and their family members, and an additional $2 billion will have flowed into the U.S. economy. Regional centers are currently trying to attract at least a half a billion dollars from foreign investors to develop dairy farms in Iowa, peanut plantations in California, schools and medical centers in Alabama, and ethanol plants in Texas.
