According to comprehensive reports from Worldway: Due to a surge in visa applications from Chinese nationals, the United States may have, for the first time in history, exhausted its quota for investment immigration visas for the current fiscal year.
CNN reports that the EB-5 program began 24 years ago, offering 10,000 visa slots annually to foreigners who invest at least 500,000 USD in U.S. development projects. In return, these investors and their family members can typically obtain a U.S. Green Card within two years, becoming permanent residents of the United States.
However, U.S. Department of State officials stated that starting this week through the 2015 fiscal year (beginning October 1, 2014), Chinese investors will no longer be able to apply for the EB-5 program.
The Wall Street Journal, citing experts, noted that 85% of this year's EB-5 applicants are Chinese, which has led to the temporary suspension of the program. They anticipate that immigration visa applications will be exhausted even faster next year.
As the first step in the approval process, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) still has 10,375 EB-5 petitions awaiting processing. The final issuance of visas is completed by the U.S. Department of State through embassies and consulates.
At an EB-5 conference in Chicago last Saturday, an attendee told The Wall Street Journal that senior U.S. government officials expect that starting next spring, EB-5 applicants will have to wait at least two years to receive a visa. The Wall Street Journal quoted an immigration attorney specializing in visa services as saying:
“Such a long wait creates problems for both investors and U.S. businesses looking to use EB-5 investment funds to complete project investments/exit investment plans.”
U.S. companies have raised hundreds of millions of dollars through the EB-5 program, which supporters argue is beneficial to the U.S. economy. However, critics question whether this truly creates jobs. Other critics argue that allowing the wealthy to jump the queue for a Green Card is unfair.
Less than 1% of visas issued by the U.S. annually are through the EB-5 program. However, the recent demand for EB-5 visas has not decreased despite the decline in supply. In fiscal year 2013, the U.S. issued 8,564 EB-5 visas, compared to 7,641 in fiscal year 2012. In 2003, only 65 EB-5 visas were issued.
EB-5 program applications from South Korea, India, and Mexico are also significant. However, by law, the share of applications from any single country cannot exceed 7%. But if a country's application count does not reach 7%, the U.S. Department of State allows the remaining quota to be transferred to other countries. This has caused the number of applications from Chinese investors, where demand is relatively strong, to far exceed the EB-5 quota allocated to China.
Because wealthy Chinese individuals have used the EB-5 program to settle in the United States, the program has flourished in recent years. Its biggest selling point is that applicants can bypass the uncertainty and long wait times associated with employment-based or family-based immigration.
However, a New York attorney working for Chinese clients told The Wall Street Journal that these investors are not coming to the United States to invest, but rather to allow their children to receive a better education and to obtain residency.
Worldway Editor
