Thread: Want a Green Card? Pay $1M for Stake in Orlando Area Condo

Want a green card? Pay $1M for stake in Orlando-area condo hotel

Sara K. Clarke | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 28, 2009

Condominium hotels were among the first real-estate investments to go sour as the housing market slumped and, later, the credit markets seized up. But Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa is hoping the lure of permanent U.S. residency will eventually persuade well-heeled foreign investors to help it expand near Walt Disney World.

The condo-hotel resort received government approval several months ago to serve as a "regional center" for foreign investment. Under federal immigration policy, an approved foreigner whose investment is supposed to create 10 full-time jobs in the U.S. can get a conditional visa to live here -- and can ultimately secure a regular "green card" good for permanent residency.

The Lake Buena Vista resort is one of only about 35 such centers for EB-5 visas in the country -- and the first one not in a rural or high-unemployment setting.

So far, it has no takers for its million-dollar-visa offer. The recession and global financial turmoil have taken "a bit of a bite" from the program's potential, said Larry Behar, an immigration lawyer working on the project.

The local EB-5 visa offer works like this: A foreign investor pays $1 million for a stake in a limited-liability corporation that owns 70 of the resort's condo-hotel units. The investor has to have the cash on hand and has to be approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which can investigate the source of the person's money. In return, the investor gets a conditional visa -- as well as conditional green cards for immediate family members.

'The perfect complement'

"With the tremendous need for economic stimulus that we're hearing about every day, it's the perfect complement," said Sam Sutton, Lake Buena Vista Resort's developer. "One of the best aspects of the program is that it is an all-cash purchase."

The investor eventually has to prove to the government that the chosen investment did, in fact, create 10 jobs, either directly or indirectly, in areas such as hospitality, food service and building maintenance. If he or she can't do that after two years, the conditional green cards can be revoked. But if the jobs do exist at that point, the investor can apply for permanent green-card status.

Though the resort says its offer has drawn interest from investors in Russia, China, Venezuela, Canada and elsewhere, it has not yet sold any of 105 slots set aside for investors. One issue it faces is that the federal program's other EB-5 regional centers have lower initial investments because they are in a rural area or a high-unemployment urban area. To spur job growth in those situations, the government requires only $500,000 from the foreign investor seeking a green card.

Still, the local project's management hopes investors eventually will be drawn to the resort, which is just east of Disney World at State Roads 535 and 417, because it's partly built and already renting rooms. The complex, which includes an outlet mall, a spa and 496 hotel suites, rented nearly 61 percent of its rooms on an average night in 2008, Senior Vice President Larry Cohen said.

"They would have cash flow from Day One," Sutton said of potential investors.

Risk of bankruptcy?

Still, a million-dollar investment would carry risk.

A wave of condominium hotels hit the Orlando market at the height of the real-estate buying binge several years ago. Many of the proposed projects never left the planning stage. Of those that did materialize, some are already bankrupt, including the Lexington Orlando CityPlace downtown and Sage Resorts near SeaWorld.

One thing the Lake Buena Vista Resort Village has going for it is the backing of local politicians and economic-development officials.

Enterprise Florida, the state's economic-development agency, said the project has "enormous potential to stimulate job creation." And direct foreign investment is a goal of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, which views the resort's visa program as a win-win for Orlando.

"Having a regional center is always a good idea," said Carmenza Gonzalez, the EDC's vice president for international-business development. "They really took the initiative."

Sara K. Clarke can be reached at skclarke@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5664.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/cus ... 2438.story

Why would anyone pay $1 much less $1M when they can come in illegally and not be punished for it? Morons!

Dollars to donuts Obama's brother Osama owns the Disney Hotel..........

In Fla. you have always been able to get residency if you invest $1mill or more in a business or income producing property. Some Brits I knew had not invested enough and were basically told to go home in the late 1990s.

I would rather see more educated people with money come here LEGALLY

than the poor uneducated people who are coming here by the millions ILLEGALLY.

Perhaps a radical opinion, but ideally our borders should be shut until we sort out the mess we already have on our hands with illegals and visa-overstays.

We have 50 plus visa programs in this country bringing in millions of immigrants per year.Their needs to be a moratorium on all these programs till we sort everything out and solve our economic and employment problems.




STAND TALL PATRIOTS!