Fifteen years after the US devised a visa category granting permanent residence for immigrant investors, there are few takers, mostly only Asians, while others are put off by rigorous procedures and long delays in approvals.
Government failure to resolve legal issues surrounding hundreds of applications left those who had already pumped in investments in a lurch for up to 10 years and put off potential investors, according to a probe by the US Congress.
The investor visa category, EB-5, was established in 1990 to grant immigrants conditional residence and, after two years, permanent residence status in the US if they invest in a commercial venture "benefiting the country" and creating at least 10 full-time jobs.
Under the law, about 10,000 visas of the EB-5 category may be issued each year to investors and their dependents.
But according to US State Department records, only 6,024 visas have been issued since 1992. Permanent legal resident status was granted only to 653 investors.
Immigration officials and lawyers who represented investors attributed the low participation to "an onerous application" and "lengthy adjudication periods," said the General Accountability Office (GAO), the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress.
In addition, there was a suspension of processing on over 900 cases, "some of which date to 1995," precipitated by a change in government interpretation of regulations regarding financial qualifications.
The GAO said "some immigrant investors have been in the US for more than 10 years without completing the EB-5 requirements and being granted permanent legal resident status.
"Further, immigration lawyers that we interviewed told us that failure to issue the new regulations has deterred potential investors from participating and caused hardships for some of the investors forced to remain in conditional resident status," it added.
For example, to maintain their conditional residency in the US, investors who had their cases suspended must obtain an extension of their legal resident documentation annually, commonly referred to as their green card, from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
According to these immigration lawyers, this in itself is not an easy process.
Although the government was mandated by Congress to come out with the new regulations two years ago to ease the backlog, there has been little progress.
The newly established Homeland Security Department said it was unable to complete the regulations due to "management and mission demands."
The department was set up after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, which had led to stringent immigration controls as part of enhanced security.
About 83 percent of investors and their dependents granted permanent resident status through the EB-5 category were from Asia, including Taiwan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, India and Japan, the GAO said.
EB-5 participants, it said, had invested about US$1 billion dollars in a variety of businesses, including hotels, manufacturing industries, restaurants, real estate and farms.
The GAO said it had recommended that the Homeland Security Department finalize and issue the new regulations but "they could not provide any assurance when the regulations would be issued."
Tightened visa procedures for those travelling to the US for business, education and tourism are getting US companies increasingly worried over business losses to competitors from Asia and Europe despite government assurances that the situation is under control.
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