Thread: N.Y.: Trade green cards for Atlantic Yards funding

Markowitz planning China trip to trade green cards for Atlantic Yards funding

By RICH CALDER
Last Updated: 6:13 PM, September 30, 2010
Posted: 3:57 PM, September 30, 2010

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’s latest planned overseas trip sounds more like a punch line than official business.

Markowitz – who racks up more frequent-flyer miles on government business than most local elected officials and all of the city’s
other Beeps combined -- is seeking city blessing to travel expenses-paid to China.

His mission: fly 7,000 miles to the other side of the world to help his longtime ally, developer Bruce Ratner,
peddle green cards to rich foreigners in exchange for investing in Ratner's embattled Atlantic Yards project.

They want to use a little-known federal program to raise about $250 million for the financially troubled $4.9 billion Prospect Heights project,
which includes an arena for the NBA’s Nets, officials said.

"[Markowitz] is clearly taking full-advantage of permissible perks to boost economic investment in the borough,â€

[quote]Markowitz’s trip would be for paid by New York City Regional Center LLC, a Manhattan company approved by the federal government to locally oversee the federal “EB-5â€

I thought the EB-5 program was new but it looks like it has been around since 1990.

. . .
HISTORY OF THE EB-5 IMMIGRANT INVESTOR PROGRAM

The overall EB-5 immigrant investor program was created by Congress via the Immigration Act of 1990 with a clear purpose: to encourage foreign investors to invest significant funds in the US economy by offering lawful permanent resident status (a green card) to serious investors whose activities resulted in the creation of jobs for US workers.

The EB-5 is not the only investment-based visa option, but it is the only one that enables the investor to apply directly for permanent resident status in exchange for significant investment in the US economy. The only other option for entering the United States and being able to stay for an extended period of time was and is the E-2 Investor visa-the "Treaty Investor" visa that was discussed in chapter 2; however, the E-2 is not an immigrant visa, and so it necessitates that the investor find an immigration category in which to apply for permanent resident status. Many foreign investors, particularly those from countries without a treaty providing for the E-2 investor visa, come to the United States under the L-1A manager transferee visa. However, many investors holding the L-1A visa have found it extremely difficult to maintain their business abroad (a requirement of the L-1 visa is that the transfer or business abroad remain active and with employees in order for the L-1 visa holder to continue to qualify for the L-1 visa). They also have difficulty building up a sufficiently large staff and business operation in the United States in order to qualify for the EB-1 multinational executive and manager immigrant visa. Moreover, the L-1A manager visa can be extended up to a maximum of only seven years. At first glance, seven years seem like a long time, but it is not long when the person needs to build up a new business in the United States, to have a staff of eight, ten, or more employees, which is typically necessary in order to qualify for permanent residence as a multinational manager, bearing in mind also that the permanent residence application process can drag out over several years.

The E-2 investor visa is considered in some ways to be the nonimmigrant visa cousin to the EB-5 immigrant investor category. Although the E-2 visa, like the L-1, has its own merits depending on the investor's plans, it does not carry the permanence or security of the EB-5 green card. On the one hand, the E-2 visa is a nonimmigrant visa that is usually granted for an initial period of up to five years (though some US consulates typically give all first-time E-2 applicants a two-year E-2 visa). The E-2 visa does not, by law or regulation, have a maximum number of years or times that it can be renewed. In theory, an E-2 visa holder, particularly the principal investor, could continue to renew the E-2 visa for as long as the investor maintains 50-100 percent ownership of the investment business, keeps it sufficiently active and profitable, and maintains a staff with a sufficient number of US workers. In practice, even if the E-2 investor satisfies the above-mentioned requirements, some US consular officers may still choose to make the decision of how much time under the E-2 visa is too much, based on the theory that the investor is using the E-2 visa as if it were permanent residence for living long-term in the United States. Retirement is not possible under the E-2 visa, since the investor has to manage the day-to-day business in order to continue to qualify for the E-2 visa.

The EB-5 immigrant investor program was created as a way for the US economy to benefit from foreign investment at a time when the US economy was in recession and suffering from the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs, the downturn in military armaments production at the end of the Cold War, a downturn in real estate markets, and the failure of a large number of savings and loans. The idea with the original EB-5 program was to attract talented and wealthy individual entrepreneurs who would create dynamic and growing businesses that would employ US workers. . .

http://ezinearticles.com/?History-And-S ... id=4295386

Why would rich Chinese want to move here? They can have a better life in China.

I don't think it's about living here per se. A green card would allow them access to investment opportunities not possible as a tourist, while enjoying all the benefits of investing and accumulating American interests without actually having to live here.

I suppose when you have that kind of money, you can live pretty well just about anywhere.

Originally Posted by Bowman

Why would rich Chinese want to move here? They can have a better life in China.

I live in Brooklyn's Chinatown and know for a fact they're prospering much better here. In 1990 I spoke to the man who bought the four family house next to the one I was living in at that time and he told me "This house only $400,00, in Hong Kong two million. I buy five of them." Guess what? Those houses are now worth two million.

Not only that but Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers etc all make much more here than there.

The funny thing though is that they also prey on the IAs that come from their country for cheap labor to increase their profits.

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

I live in Brooklyn's Chinatown and know for a fact they're prospering much better here. In 1990 I spoke to the man who bought the four family house next to the one I was living in at that time and he told me "This house only $400,00, in Hong Kong two million. I buy five of them." Guess what? Those houses are now worth two million.

Not only that but Doctors, Lawyers, Teachers etc all make much more here than there.

I was referring to Chinese multi-millionaire investors, not green card workers. Those Chinese doctors and lawyers you mention don't make enough in China to buy a $500,000 investment green card, they come here instead on an employment green card. The rich Chinese business owners and investors can live better in Dalian or Hainan where housing and labor is cheaper than they can in Long Island or surrounding areas. That Hong Kong investor you met is only investing his money here, not living here, he can have a better life on Lantau Island.

Originally Posted by Bowman

I was referring to Chinese multi-millionaire investors, not green card workers. Those Chinese doctors and lawyers you mention don't make enough in China to buy a $500,000 investment green card, they come here instead on an employment green card. The rich Chinese business owners and investors can live better in Dalian or Hainan where housing and labor is cheaper than they can in Long Island or surrounding areas. That Hong Kong investor you met is only investing his money here, not living here, he can have a better life on Lantau Island.

You're so very wrong in so many ways. I almost wish you were correct because that would mean at some point the Rich Elite become content with what they already have instead of being greedy and seeking ever higher profits.

The guy I met fled Hong Kong because mainland China was about to take over Taiwan and was afraid of the future there. That's what started the formation of Brooklyn's Chinatown. The Rich arrived legally and created a neighborhood for IAs to settle. Sadly it was my neighborhood.

Originally Posted by Ratbstard

The guy I met fled Hong Kong because mainland China was about to take over Taiwan and was afraid of the future there. That's what started the formation of Brooklyn's Chinatown. The Rich arrived legally and created a neighborhood for IAs to settle. Sadly it was my neighborhood.

Oh, you are correct about those guys that came years ago, actually I suppose there are some of them still coming now also for political reasons, but there are just as many if not more that stay in China, my Chinese friend tells me about her wealthy friends who prefer to live in China since they can make a lot more money there! And the cost for many things including housing is cheaper outside Shanghai and Hong Kong.

So those guys created illegal alien neighborhoods? That really sucks.