EB-5 Press
Russians are leaving the country in droves
November 14th, 2011
Los Angeles Times – By Sergei L. Loiko
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Roughly 1.25 million Russians have left the country in the last 10 years, Sergei Stepashin, head of the national Audit Chamber, told the radio station Echo of Moscow. The chamber tracks migration through tax revenues.
He said the exodus is so large, it’s comparable in numbers to the outrush in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution.
Top of Chinese wealthy’s wish list? To leave China
September 7th, 2011
Associated Press – By Louise Watt
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Chinese millionaire Su builds skyscrapers in Beijing and is one of the people powering China’s economy on its path to becoming the world’s biggest. He sits at the top of a country — economy booming, influence spreading, military swelling — widely expected to dominate the 21st century.
In U.S. visa program, money talks
September 3rd, 2011
Los Angeles Times – By P.J. Huffstutter
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David Joyce marched his way to the front of the U.S. immigration line using his pocketbook, sinking half a million dollars into a Vermont ski resort.
U.S. Assures Visas Won’t Grow Hard to Secure.
The Moscow Times – By Nikolaus von Twickle
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The U.S. Embassy offered assurances Wednesday that a planned visa facilitation agreement between Washington and Moscow will not lead to more visa refusals for Russians. “The agreement does not change immigration law,” a spokeswoman told The Moscow Times, requesting anonymity in line with embassy policy.”
A Losing Ticket in the American Lottery
June 25, 2011
The Wall Street Journal – By Mariam Jordan & Alexandra Berzon
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Ever since he traveled from his home near Yaounde, Cameroon, on a scholarship to Michigan State University in 2009, Dieudonné Kuate dreamed of immigrating to the United States. As a visiting graduate student in epidemiology, he marveled at the sophistication of the chemistry labs and the excellence of the teaching. There was no comparison to his university in Yaounde, where he shared a cramped 27-square-foot room with three other students.
22,000 Victims of State Department Blunder File Lawsuit
June 20, 2011
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A Class Action lawsuit has been filed against the State Department in the District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to reinstate a commitment first made, then broken, to 22,000 would-be legal and rule-abiding immigrants to the United States.
US govt sued over immigration ‘blunder’
June 21, 2011
RTE News
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A lawsuit has been filed against the US State Department alleging it unfairly denied 22,000 would-be legal immigrants the right to permanent residency in the US, their lawyers said.
Immigrants Sue Over Loss of Green Cards
June 20, 2011
The New York Times – By Julia Preston
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A class-action lawsuit was filed against the State Department in federal court in Washington by immigrants from more than 20 countries who say officials mishandled the annual lottery of permanent resident visas. After notifying more than 20,000 foreigners this year that they had won the permanent visas, known as green cards, the State Department canceled them, saying a computer glitch had tainted the process.
California lawyer sues State Dept. over revoked green card lottery
June 21, 2011
CNN – By Faith Karimi
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A California immigration lawyer has sued the State Department after the agency tossed out the results of a green card lottery, shattering the dreams of applicants notified that they had won a chance to live in the U.S. legally. The so-called diversity visa lottery allows foreigners to submit applications on the State Department website every year.
Green card lottery: US reviews ‘diversity visa’ glitch
June 6, 2011
BBC News
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“The US is reviewing its green card lottery after this year’s results were cancelled, leaving 22,000 people who thought they had been chosen for a chance at US residency disappointed.”
U.S. Green-Card Lottery Scrutinized After Blunder
June 6, 2011
The Wall Street Journal – By Miriam Jordan
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“The State Department’s Inspector General is reviewing the government’s green-card lottery after this year’s results were scratched and thousands of people who had been told they won a chance for a U.S. resident visa were later notified they would have to re-enter the drawing. ”
Government Promises, Then Voids 22,000 Green Cards
May 31, 2011
The Huffington Post – By Elise Foley
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“Macedonian native Marianno Gorgeski found out he had been selected from 19.6 million applicants to receive a green card to move to the United States on May 1, a day he called among the greatest of his life. He and his fiancee quickly made plans to marry so they could move to the United States together. He notified his employer that he would be leaving, backed out of a lease on his apartment — for a fee — and sold his car. But nearly two weeks later, the U.S. government voided the results of the 2012 Diversity Visa Lottery, rescinding green card promises for 22,000 people who desperately want to move to the United States. ”
Citizenship for Sale?
October 21, 2010
Yahoo! Finance – By Daniel Gross
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“Every day investors around the world choose to put their hard-earned cash into the US Billions of dollars flow in the form of foreign direct investment, as when a group of Brazilians bought Burger King, and foreigners purchase hundreds of billions of US stocks and bonds, as measured by the Treasury’s TIC data.”
Pay to stay: Visa program offers green cards to immigrants
May 23, 2010
San Jose Mercury News – By Matt O’Brien
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“Congress allows up to 10,000 immigrants to come in on the visa each year, but most years attract fewer than 1,000. That is rapidly changing, as the number of visa-holders nationwide rose to 4,218 last year from 1,443 in 2008, according to government statistics. In order to get a green card, which allows a person to become a permanent resident of the United States, investors have a choice: They can put $1 million into starting a new commercial venture or helping a troubled American business. Or, they can invest $500,000 in a business venture located in an area with high unemployment.For the majority who choose the less expensive route, there are more than 80 regional centers across the country, and 23 in California, that are authorized by the government to recruit immigrant investors and pool their contributions into distressed regions. Two years ago, there were only about 20 such centers, most of which are private companies, but the recession has caused a spike in activity.”
Immigrants invest in US businesses in exchange for visas
January 10, 2010
The Washington Post – By N.C. Aizenman
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“The number of foreigners willing to invest $500,000 to $1 million in a US business in exchange for a visa roughly tripled in the past fiscal year, as dozens of cash-strapped enterprises and local governments scrambled to attract wealthy foreign backers through a previously obscure provision of immigration law. Under the EB-5 visa program, immigrants who can demonstrate that their investment created or preserved at least 10 US jobs after two years are granted legal permanent residency along with their spouses and children…Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor at Cornell University’s law school and executive director of a trade association of regional centers, said the number of EB-5 visas being granted falls well short of the maximum 10,000 allowed each year. ‘There’s a lot more that we could be doing to promote the EB-5 program so that it can achieve its true potential in this economic recession,’ he said.”
A Precious Capital Source For Small Biz
January 06, 2010
Forbes – By Katy Finneran
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“Under the Immigration Act of 1990, the US Congress set aside 10,000 annual visas for foreign investors looking for opportunities in America. Those carrots are coming in handy during what remains a debilitating credit crunch for US entrepreneurs…EB-5 is catching fire in the latest downturn…”
Leahy’s Extension Of Investor Visa Program…Clears Congress, Heads to President’s Desk
October 20, 2009
Press Release from Senator Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) Office
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“The US Senate late Tuesday approved and sent to the Presidents’ desk a bill that includes Senator Patrick Leahy’s extension of the ‘investor visa’ program that has attracted millions of dollars in economic development to Vermont, creating hundreds of jobs…The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, which is operated by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), has generated more than a billion dollars of investments, creating tens of thousands of jobs in states and communities across the country since it was established in 1993.”
Clamoring for Foreign Capital
August 10, 2009
Inc. – By Josh Spiro
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“When banks and angel investors fail to provide seed money, many new ventures are turning to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 program. The program gives foreign nationals who sink at least $500,000 into a business in a rural or depressed area a chance to gain permanent citizenship if they can create 10 jobs for Americans…’Congress thinks it’s a good program because it’s what I call a win-win-win-win,’ [Steve Yale-Loehr] said, listing the benefactors as US companies looking to expand, US workers, the foreign investors, and taxpayers who get free economic invigoration.”
