US EB-5 program helps lure Chinese investors   

美投资移民签证去年8成给华人 或为美带来40亿投资

美国国内安全部数据显示，美国吸引外国投资的EB5签证计划为美国引进大量资金，透过这项计划获得居留权的外国人，从2002年开始时的142人，飙涨到去年的7641人，而其中的80%左右的签证都发给了华人。 [查看全文]

(ECNS) -- Business policy makers in the United States are luring Chinese investors through the EB-5 (Employment Based Visa, Category 5) program, as China becomes the largest source of participants in the country's "visa-for-cash deal."

The EB-5 program is dominated by wealthy Chinese investors. About 80 percent of the 7,641 immigrants who got visas through the program in 2012 were from China, according to statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security.

With the US economy still relatively stagnant, local governments are eager to attract more foreign investment.

Chuck Schumer, a New York senator who supported granting green cards to Chinese investors through the EB-5 program, once called it a gift to American taxpayers.

In 2010, the development project Navy Yard benefited from the EB-5 program, raising $60 million, much of it from Chinese investors, to help construct an 89,000-square-foot industrial building and complete a host of infrastructure improvements, according to a real estate developer in New York.

The US authorized the opening of a Shanghai representative office in 2012 to provide consultancy for Chinese EB-5 investors.

Under the program, foreign investors must finance commercial projects in the US by investing either $500,000 or $1,000,000 and create at least 10 full-time jobs. They can set up a new commercial enterprise, invest in a troubled business, or invest directly through the EB-5 regional center pilot program.

All investors must undergo a background check, identify the source of their wealth, and maintain the 10 full-time jobs they create. The investor, as well as the investor's spouse and children, can obtain U.S. citizenship after five years.