An Investment Visa to Getting a Green Card
There are many ways in which a foreign national can get a Green Card, one of which is through applying for an investment visa. Simply put, you can apply for permanent residency by setting up a business in the US. By allowing investors to get into the US economy, more and more investors are attracted to invest in the United States.
Most of the rural areas in the United States are greatly benefitting from the foreign investments brought about by the investor immigration scheme of the country. An article in a Sioux Falls online publication talks about a dairy farm in South Dakota as a great example. The finances of that dairy farm come from four foreign investors, specifically South Korean businessmen. All four have invested about $500,000 each and have been given permanent residency based on the US EB-5 immigration program. Since the year 2005, the EB-5 program has contributed $30 million to the South Dakota dairy industry. That is already one third of the $90 million expansion that the state has planned for that industry.
South Dakota is not the only state enjoying the benefits of the investor immigration program. In the following months and years, more states are expected to take advantage of this great program. It is not just the US that continues to attract investors through immigration. There are similar programs from other countries such as in the United Kingdom and Australia.
On the other hand, the EB-5 visa may not be too clear or may have high requirements for other foreign investors since it has not attracted much interest since its implementation. In 2005, there were only 6,000 visas issued under the scheme. This may be a result of the $500,000 requirement as well as the many other bureaucratic requirements.