Posted on 1/29/2009, 5:36:24 PM by AuntB
....Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa is hoping the lure of permanent U.S. residency will eventually persuade well-heeled foreign investors to help it expand near Walt Disney World.
[They] received government approval several months ago to serve as a "regional center" for foreign investment. Under federal immigration policy, an approved foreigner whose investment is supposed to create 10 full-time jobs in the U.S. can get a conditional visa to live here and can secure a regular "green card" good for permanent residency.
The Lake Buena Vista resort is one of only about 35 such centers for EB-5 visas -- and the first one not in a rural or high-unemployment setting.
The local EB-5 visa offer: A foreign investor pays $1 million for a stake in a limited-liability corporation that owns 70 of the resort's condo-hotel units. The investor has to have the cash on hand and has to be approved by U.S.C.I.S. In return, the investor gets a conditional visa -- as well as conditional green cards for immediate family members.
The investor eventually has to prove that the chosen investment did, in fact, create 10 jobs, either directly or indirectly, in areas such as hospitality, food service and building maintenance. If he or she can't do that after two years, the conditional green cards can be revoked.
Though the resort says its offer has drawn interest from investors in Russia, China, Venezuela, Canada and elsewhere, it has not yet sold any of 105 slots set aside for investors. One issue it faces is that the federal program's other EB-5 regional centers have lower initial investments because they are in a rural area or a high-unemployment urban area. To spur job growth in those situations, the government requires only $500,000 from the foreign investor seeking a green card.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
Wish we could blame this on Obama, but it appears it's a Bush White house move.
"The condo-hotel resort received government approval several months ago to serve as a "regional center" for foreign investment. Under federal immigration policy, an approved foreigner whose investment is supposed to create 10 full-time jobs in the U.S. can get a conditional visa to live here -- and can ultimately secure a regular "green card" good for permanent residency."
The article mentions..."Larry Behar, an immigration lawyer working on the project."
Any relation to the View's harpie, Joy Behar?
“The investor eventually has to prove that the chosen investment did, in fact, create 10 jobs, either directly or indirectly,”
...eventually......LOL.....and WHO is going to make sure that happens....NO ONE!
In the years leading up to the transfer of Hong Kong from Great Britain back to China about ten years ago, many of the top business owners in Hong Kong emigrated to Canada under a similar type of program.
ping
Seems we'd be better off taking in the talented, successful, productive immigrants over the illiterate, unskilled baby factories that we're taking in by the millions now.
“If the inspection system is good I see no problem with this!”
THAT is the problem, WellyP. It is totally broken. A year or so back, USCIS approved 300,000 applicants after they lost their files. No vetting. It’s a disaster. And this just leads to chain migration and the ‘approvees’ bringing in more illegal labor.
Investor Visas have been around for decades. They are a good thing.
Actually, they have to submit proof 90 days before their second anniversary here. Failure to pay the money and submit the appropriate forms and proof will cause them to lose their legal status here and make them “removable.” They become illegal aliens and could be deported.
I don't know a whole lot about the EB-5 visa, but from what I understand it's not nearly as good a deal for these people as it seems to be on its face. From what I understand it is very difficult to get anything but conditional status with an EB-5 visa. These people do have to apply to get the conditions removed, but USCIS just keeps most of them in limbo after that, not actually removing the conditions and making them regular permanent residents with a pathway to citizenship. That's just what an immigration attorney in my office who has done these before tells me. He tries to find a different way to skin that cat because he hasn't had good luck with the EB-5 visa.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.