The revived EB-5 programme is poised to fund undertakings from a golf resort in the Utah mountains to condos in rural Florida
PRAVASISAMWAD.COM
A US visa programme that attracted $37 billion in foreign investments is making a comeback. And, what is important to note is that Indians and Chinese make up the queue of wealthy applicants, reported ndtv.com.
The revived EB-5 programme is poised to fund undertakings from a golf resort in the Utah mountains to condos in rural Florida. All this while provide new overseas investors to cut years-long lines. The controversial initiative, which offers a green card in return for putting large sums toward a US business and creating at least 10 permanent jobs, had a backlog that extended almost a decade before it was suspended in June 2021 when Congress failed to reauthorize it.
A settlement last month of lawsuits involving so-called regional centres that allow foreign investors to pool their funds has put the programme back on track for new filings. Earlier this year, the Biden administration signed a law that steps up audits and site visits to deter fraud, while also create a path for some to skip the backlog of cases if they are willing to invest in rural areas or places with high unemployment. Roughly 100,000 EB-5 visa applicants with some $15 billion in committed investments had been in limbo since the programme lapsed, according to trade group Invest in the USA estimates.
High demand for the visas means cases of more Indian and Chinese investors who applied previously may not advance due to shifting cutoff dates, according to a Department of State bulletin earlier this month
US law firms are preparing thousands of new applications. “It’s like people lining up for tickets at a movie,” Sam Silverman, founder of EB5AN, an affiliate network that operates more than a dozen projects with presence in 20 states was quoted saying. “There’s a giant line with a limited number of tickets with a long wait, but then they just opened up two new showings with literally no one in line.”
The programme is seeing 8,000 Indians who are looking to leave. They ae being joined by about 10,000 high-net-worth Chinese residents who are seeking to bring out $48 billion from China this year, investment migration consultant Henley & Partners estimated.
High demand for the visas means cases of more Indian and Chinese investors who applied previously may not advance due to shifting cutoff dates, according to a Department of State bulletin earlier this month.
In an effort to address this demand, EB5investors.com organized its first event in three years in Vietnam last week, drawing hundreds of investors, migration agents, lawyers and capital seekers who set up booths advertising investment projects from Montana to Florida, said Ali Jahangiri, the group’s founder and chief executive officer. “The attendance was probably better than we’ve ever had in the past,” Jahangiri said.
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