Would Gold Card Proposal Affect Current EB-5 Investors?

MAUD YAICHE, THE HOST:

For many foreign investors and businessmen, getting a green card through the EB-5 investor visa program seems to be a no brainer. But is it really that simple? And what are the consequences for current EB-5 applicants. 

HANNAH WEAVER, THE HOST:

Uptown Radio reporter Zhuoya Ma asks an immigration lawyer and interested applicants about the process. 

MA: Ruoyao Sun is a graduate student studying nutrition at Columbia University. She wanted to stay in the US, but her current F1 student visa expires 60 days after graduation. The most common option is to apply for an H1B visa as a foreign worker….but only about a quarter of all the graduate students who apply actually end up with a visa. Another option that Sun preferred  is the EB-5 immigrant investor program, where a visa may be granted after investing at least $800,000 in a business in the US–a business that creates at least 10 jobs.

SUN: “We prefer to spend some money to application with the process of EB-5.So usually we call this process buy the green card rather than get a green card by ourselves.”

MA: Sun was interested in the hotel industry and was planning to invest 800k dollars in a new hotel. But she feels that even making that up front investment, the chances of getting an EB-5 visa remain uncertain. 

SUN: Really not for sure. Only like half, 50%. 

MA: And why is that? 

SUN: Because the overall environment of economic in the U.S., which is not good after the COVID-19 pandemic.  I think everybody knows that. Economic conditions, which is really not good. That's why the investment takes a lot of risk. 

MA: Gadi Zohar is a managing partner of Zohar Law, a firm in New York specializing in immigrant visa issues. He says the current changes in requirements for the EB-5, have also made it harder for many immigrants to obtain the visa.

ZOHAR:  When they changed the amounts a few years back from half a million to 800,000 and 1,050,000, it kind of weeded out a lot of the people. So it's really only the people that have that income to be able to afford the EB-5 visa. 

MA: And even if the immigrant has those funds back home, it can be difficult to spend that money on businesses in the US.

ZOHAR: “And especially lately, a lot of countries, it's hard to get those funds out. So they're working through intermediaries or working through other people. And it's just getting harder and harder to kind of track the source of funds. Also for applicants, it's hard finding a project. Most don't do it through direct investment. They invest through a regional center.

And the regional centers, it's a difficult situation on evaluating where to invest in.”

MA: Recently another visa option has been introduced by the The Trump administration. Its called the Gold card, and it allows for permanent residency in the United States, for an up front payment of $5,000,000 to the government. Zohar says he sees this program is simply out of reach for most EB-5 applicants.

ZOHAR: “Getting $800,000 to $1.5 million, that's still doable for a lot of people. $5 million is very difficult, especially when it's $5 million that you're basically investing in the U.S., giving it to the U.S., and you're not getting any return on it. So I don't think it'll impact the EB-5 investors because it'll be for people that really have that disposable wealth.”

MA: Although full details for the Gold Card program haven’t yet been announced, Zohar says he expects that the total number of green cards issued will remain the same, and that would also affect current EB-5 applicants.

ZOHAR: “Because it takes those number of green cards out of the EB-5 program and into the gold card program.”

MA: Sun, meanwhile, has decided to change her plans…she won’t be investing in the hotel, or applying for a visa to stay after graduation…at least not now. She says President Trump’s actions in the Tariff war with China and consistently shifting plans lowered her expectations and motivation to live in the U.S. 

SUN: “Because the relationship between U.S. and China, which is not good this year. So I think probably I will still come back to China, come back to my hometown and continue my future life and find my future job in China.

Will you still interested in EB-5 in the future? Yeah, I'm interested.

But right now, I think it's not a good time to application that.

MA: Sun says she’s applied for the job at a hospital in Shanghai, her home town, and she’s currently waiting for an interview. 

Zhuoya Ma, Columbia Radio News.