Buying a Green Card Just Got More Expensive

Mark Krikorian; George Fishman; David North

By Mark Krikorian, George Fishman, and David North on April 28, 2022

Podcast

Listen to "Buying a Green Card Just Got More Expensive" on Spreaker.

Summary

Congress created an investment visa program, the EB-5 Program, in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy, specifically rural and depressed areas, through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. The loopholes in the program, which sells a pathway to U.S. citizenship to wealthy foreigners and their families who invest in job-creation projects, quickly allowed the program to become riddled with fraud and to stray from what Congress envisioned. After an eight-month lapse, Congress has brought the program back to life through a provision in a funding bill – but it returns with many reforms.

George Fishman, the Center’s senior legal fellow and former DHS Deputy General Counsel, who was closely involved in EB-5 reform efforts, said, “These reforms bring to a close a seven-plus-year bi-partisan reform effort led by both the Democrat and Republican chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Needed changes were blocked time and time again by big-moneyed industry interests which fought to keep their easy access to cheap capital through the EB-5 fraud riddled program.”

David North, a Center fellow and EB-5 expert, said, “I am pleased by the changes to the investment visa program, but I continue to disapprove of a program that allows an alien to buy a family-sized set of green cards and eventual citizenship. The program has been extended through FY 2027; we will see if big-moneyed industry sharks find new loopholes and again turn EB-5 into a program rife with fraud.”

The EB-5 reforms increase the minimum investment required, make gerrymandering more difficult, and target corruption through a new integrity package.