Chinese account for over 80 percent of U.S. investment visa applications

Chinese account for over 80 percent of U.S. investment visa applications

HONG KONG Wed Mar 18, 2015 6:10am EDT

(Reuters) - Mainland Chinese account for over 80 percent of people awaiting visas that bestow U.S. citizenship in return for investment, showed findings by real estate services firm Savills Studley, who said the trend is pushing up demand for commercial property.

A rising number of Chinese are applying for EB-5 visas, where non-citizens put at least $500,000 into a business in the United States, as they seek to park their wealth offshore - in part to escape the impact of an anti-corruption drive at home.

Australia has a similar scheme for those investing over $4 million, with 90 percent of applicants from China. Australian property has long been popular among Chinese but investment has accelerated since the start of the anti-graft campaign last year.

In the U.S., Savills Studley said over 6,400 people are on the waiting list for an EB-5 visa, and that it expects this year's allotment for Chinese applicants to be reached by September, compared with late August last year.

There were almost 10,700 EB-5 visas issued last year, up 25 percent from 2013, with mainland Chinese accounting for 85 percent of recipients versus 81 percent a year prior, Savills Studley said.

The U.S. property services firm said the rise has become an important source of capital for developers, with Chinese investment in U.S. commercial real estate jumping 78 percent from a year earlier to $5.7 billion.

The EB-5 program is also driving up prices of residential property, real estate agents said. Many Chinese immigrants with EB-5 visas make a living collecting rent in less expensive states such as Texas and North Caroline, they said.

"Some of them don't speak English and cannot find a job, so they buy four or five houses to generate rental income here, where housing prices are cheaper but can still give them a 6 to 7 percent yield," said Houston-based agent Gladys Wang.

"This is the third wave of immigrants; they're the upper-middle class and no longer the most wealthy ones from China."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0ME0Z720150318

Really? We sell citizenship for foreign investment into the US? Really? That is just unbelievable. I didn't know we did that. Why do we do that? If we pass the FairTax, real US citizens who presently have over $14 trillion in available capital stored offshore, will bring it home. If we want more capital in the US, the FairTax will bring it in faster than we could count it.

1/27/2015

http://www.alipac.us/f12/60-milliona...idency-317078/

9/3/2011

http://www.alipac.us/f12/eb-5-flashi...n-card-237929/

EB-5 Immigrant Investor

Visa Description

USCIS administers the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as “EB-5,” created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. Under a pilot immigration program first enacted in 1992 and regularly reauthorized since, certain EB-5 visas also are set aside for investors in Regional Centers designated by USCIS based on proposals for promoting economic growth.

The EB-5 Adjudications Policy Memorandum is the guiding document for USCIS administration of the EB-5 program. It builds upon prior policy guidance for adjudicating EB-5 and is applicable to, and binding on, all USCIS employees.

All EB-5 investors must invest in a new commercial enterprise, which is a commercial enterprise:

• Established after Nov. 29, 1990, or
• Established on or before Nov. 29, 1990, that is:
  1. Purchased and the existing business is restructured or reorganized in such a way that a new commercial enterprise results, or
  2. Expanded through the investment so that a 40-percent increase in the net worth or number of employees occurs

Commercial enterprise means any for-profit activity formed for the ongoing conduct of lawful business including, but not limited to:

• A sole proprietorship
• Partnership (whether limited or general)
• Holding company
• Joint venture
• Corporation
• Business trust or other entity, which may be publicly or privately owned

This definition includes a commercial enterprise consisting of a holding company and its wholly owned subsidiaries, provided that each such subsidiary is engaged in a for-profit activity formed for the ongoing conduct of a lawful business.

Note: This definition does not include noncommercial activity such as owning and operating a personal residence.

Job Creation Requirements

• Create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years (or under certain circumstances, within a reasonable time after the two-year period) of the immigrant investor’s admission to the United States as a Conditional Permanent Resident.
• Create or preserve either direct or indirect jobs:
  
  • Direct jobs are actual identifiable jobs for qualified employees located within the commercial enterprise into which the EB-5 investor has directly invested his or her capital.
  • Indirect jobs are those jobs shown to have been created collaterally or as a result of capital invested in a commercial enterprise affiliated with a regional center by an EB-5 investor. A foreign investor may only use the indirect job calculation if affiliated with a regional center.

Note: Investors may only be credited with preserving jobs in a troubled business.

A troubled business is an enterprise that has been in existence for at least two years and has incurred a net loss during the 12- or 24-month period prior to the priority date on the immigrant investor’s Form I-526.

The loss for this period must be at least 20 percent of the troubled business’ net worth prior to the loss. For purposes of determining whether the troubled business has been in existence for two years, successors in interest to the troubled business will be deemed to have been in existence for the same period of time as the business they succeeded.

A qualified employee is a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or other immigrant authorized to work in the United States. The individual may be a conditional resident, an asylee, a refugee, or a person residing in the United States under suspension of deportation.

This definition does not include the immigrant investor; his or her spouse, sons, or daughters; or any foreign national in any nonimmigrant status (such as an H-1B visa holder) or who is not authorized to work in the United States.

Full-time employment means employment of a qualifying employee by the new commercial enterprise in a position that requires a minimum of 35 working hours per week. In the case of the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, "full-time employment" also means employment of a qualifying employee in a position that has been created indirectly from investments associated with the Pilot Program.

A job-sharing arrangement whereby two or more qualifying employees share a full-time position will count as full-time employment provided the hourly requirement per week is met. This definition does not include combinations of part-time positions or full-time equivalents even if, when combined, the positions meet the hourly requirement per week. The position must be permanent, full-time and constant. The two qualified employees sharing the job must be permanent and share the associated benefits normally related to any permanent, full-time position, including payment of both workman’s compensation and unemployment premiums for the position by the employer.

Capital Investment Requirements

Capital means cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, cash equivalents and indebtedness secured by assets owned by the alien entrepreneur, provided that the alien entrepreneur is personally and primarily liable and that the assets of the new commercial enterprise upon which the petition is based are not used to secure any of the indebtedness. All capital shall be valued at fair-market value in United States dollars. Assets acquired, directly or indirectly, by unlawful means (such as criminal activities) shall not be considered capital for the purposes of section 203(b)(5) of the Act.

Note: Investment capital cannot be borrowed.
Required minimum investments are:

• General. The minimum qualifying investment in the United States is $1 million.
• Targeted Employment Area (High Unemployment or Rural Area). The minimum qualifying investment either within a high-unemployment area or rural area in the United States is $500,000.

A targeted employment area is an area that, at the time of investment, is a rural area or an area experiencing unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average rate.

A rural area is any area outside a metropolitan statistical area (as designated by the Office of Management and Budget) or outside the boundary of any city or town having a population of 20,000 or more according to the decennial census.

Last Reviewed/Updated: 03/16/2015

http://www.uscis.gov/eb-5

Oh my God, what a bunch of nonsense. Immigration enforcement agencies who can't even verify a valid marriage are now going to be assessing the value of foreign "tangible property" and "equipment" and "cash equivalents", etc., etc., etc.? And then they apply for SBA loans, right? Right, that's exactly what they do, and because the majority of them are minorities, they get special prioritized treatment for those loans as well.

STOP THIS NONSENSE! These are scams, plots, schemes for n'er do wells to enter our country and compete with our citizens and businesses. Keep them out! If Honda or BMW want to open another automobile production plant under a US corporation, Fine and Dandy! They will hire American Workers. They will have American shareholders. Pass the FairTax and invite all of these big global companies in, but we do not need any more Chinese laundries or China-Towns. I drove through a really nice neighborhood up in the northern Virginia area, the homes were probably worth over $1 million to $1.5 million maybe more at the time. No one was out and about so I didn't know and couldn't tell who lived there, but I assumed Americans. I then drove through about 1 year later because there had been more homes added to the development and wanted to see them. Because of the time of day, there were people out and about, in their driveways, coming home from work, walking in the streets, and wow was I surprised. It was all Asian. Not one American in sight. Curious, I picked up a brochure from one of the empty houses for sale and the broker was an Asian selling to all Asians. This doesn't happen naturally, this happens through violations of federal housing and state real estate laws. Just proof to me that immigrants are not coming here to be part of our country, they're coming here to create their own little countries and towns and communities and neighborhoods inside of ours.

If we're willing to sell our country, the Chinese - and others - are willing to buy.

A lot of money flows to bureaucrats in communist countries. This group is probably both owners of mid-size businesses and mid-level communist party functionaries.

Zuckerberg & Co. have multi billions. Maybe they could spring for a few bucks, to fund other American entrepreneurs.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade


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