Specifically, the EB-5 program authorizes the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to grant up to 10,000 immigrant visas each year to foreign nationals who wish to establish permanent residence in the US.
Stakeholders are required to invest at least $ 1,000,000 in an American startup or an existing business anywhere in the country, and create 10 jobs through its funding.
However, the USCIS now accepts investments of at least $ 500,000, as long as the target business is in an area where the unemployment rate exceeds the national average by at least 150 percent, or has been approved as a center. regional EB-5.
Businesses can apply for certification as an EB-5 regional center, a group of which can collectively issue up to 3,000 visas each year and match foreign investors with US startups.
Over the past year, the number of businesses certified as regional centers for the EB-5 visa program increased from 20 to 82, according to the USCIS.
Ron Drinkard, director of the Alabama Foreign Investment Center, told NPR: “To qualify [for investment], a company must show a loss of a minimum of 20 percent of its net worth in the last 12 to 24 months “.
He added: “There is hardly a company that cannot show that right now.”
The popularity of EB-5 investment opportunities has not been limited to regional centers.
According to the State Department, the number of EB-5 visas approved in all investment areas has nearly tripled between fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
In exchange for their investment, foreign citizens can become permanent US residents within 5 years of their initial application.
Brian and Jane Thompson, a couple from Essex, England, recently became interested in the EB-5 visa program after targeting Florida as an ideal place to retire, and pointed to its low housing costs, reports the Daily Mail.
After investing in a Seattle-based real estate company, Brian told the news source, “I feel as safe as you can.”