An increasing number of America’s newest citizens are wealthy Chinese immigrants who have taken advantage of laws that allow foreigners to invest their way into citizenship.
The program, created as part of the Immigration Act of 1990, has allowed immigrants to invest in everything ranging from dairy farms to ski resorts and bridges and hotels in return for permanent status.
Under the EB-5 program, immigrants must make a minimum $1 million investment—or $500,000 if the investment is made in a sector with high unemployment—to be eligible to apply. Applicants must then meet certain other criteria to get their citizenship, including submitting a business plan, proving their investment created jobs and passing background checks.
In recent years, officials say, a boom in China’s millionaire population has led to a surge in the number of Chinese immigrants in the program.
Since 2006, wealthy Chinese investors have taken over the top spot and now comprise nearly 85 percent of all applications. The amount of Chinese immigrants applying for EB-5 visas pushed the program to its mandatory limits and, on August 24, the government closed the program until the new fiscal year begins October 1.
From October 2013 through August 2014, 7,563 applicants out of a possible 8,921 were from China, according to the U.S. State Department. Trailing far behind are applicants from South Korea (200), Mexico (115), Taiwan (111) and Vietnam (100).
That’s up from 63 Chinese immigrants who applied for the program in 2006.
Sona Col, a principal attorney at Sonia Col and Associates, a New York-based law firm specializing in immigration issues, attributed the rise in applications to the program being “a good deal.”
“This is an easy way if they have the money to acquire U.S. residence,” Sol said.
In many respects, applicants to the investment program are looking to become U.S. residents for the same reasons as all other immigrants—to raise the quality of life for their family members, she added.
“People with money want their kids to be raised in the U.S. They want their kids to go to school here,” she said.
