Influenced by Canada's announcement to terminate its federal investment immigration program, the U.S. investment immigration quota is expected to be exhausted this year.
Following Canada's announcement on the 11th to terminate its federal investment immigration program, and reports indicating that the U.S. investment immigration green card approval rate exceeded 80% in 2013, industry experts believe that the market for U.S. investment immigration will heat up significantly. Invest In the USA (IIUSA) further predicts that the 10,000-quota limit for U.S. investment immigration in 2014 is highly likely to be reached for the first time.
Canada announced the termination of its investment immigration program, and the Canadian government has decisively cut off all 66,000 pending applications, including 57,000 investment applications from China.
This sudden measure will cause the aforementioned rejected investors to turn to other countries and regions to file immigration applications. Because the U.S. has more lenient requirements regarding investment amounts and investor asset strength compared to Canada, and offers better conditions such as no language requirements and no "residency requirements," along with a consistently stable green card approval rate of at least 80%, it is poised to become the top choice for investment immigration in 2014.
In response to the eager demand from Chinese investment immigrants, the Invest In the USA (IIUSA) believes that the 10,000-quota limit for U.S. investment immigration in 2014 is very likely to be reached. IIUSA, which tracks investment immigration case approvals annually, recently released 2013 statistics showing that there were 6,517 I-526 applications, with 4,468 cases processed and 3,677 ultimately approved, representing an approval rate of nearly 82.5%. Consequently, at least 80% of those who obtained investment immigration green cards were Chinese.
Regarding the I-829 applications for unconditional green cards filed two years after obtaining the conditional I-526 green card, there were 1,217 cases in 2013, with 844 approvals. Driven by the influx of Chinese clients into the investment immigration market over the past few years, the number of I-829 applications in 2013 grew by at least 70% compared to 2012.
The report also mentioned that investment immigration cases approved in 2013 added $1.83 billion in investment to the U.S., while in 2012, investment immigration cases created over 42,000 jobs for the U.S. and generated more than $712 million in tax revenue for the federal government.
Investment immigration attorneys analyze that risk and visa backlogs are the primary considerations for investment immigrants. Although Canada has closed its doors, because the industry expects that Canada may still open a crack in the future—albeit with higher thresholds—many people are still waiting outside Canada's doors, hoping for a glimmer of hope, compared to the dual risks of visa backlogs and investment in the U.S. The industry estimates that half of the nearly 60,000 affected Chinese applicants in Canada who are more risk-tolerant will gradually turn to the U.S. Because applying for a green card takes a year, coupled with unpredictable visa backlog factors, attorneys advise those considering an application to join the queue early. The industry also does not rule out the possibility that the U.S. may tighten policies or even close its doors in the future due to quota exhaustion.
Industry insiders point out that the U.S. is currently not lacking in investment projects, but rather in quotas. The Canadian incident has also created a sense of urgency for project developers in various U.S. regional centers, as everyone wants to act first to avoid the impact of future visa backlogs on investor willingness and the speed of capital raising. The increase in visa backlogs has a smaller impact on investors in regional center projects, but a greater impact on direct investment immigrants.