Chinese Investors Warm to Sweetened U.S. Cash-for-Visa Program
A popular U.S. program that offers permanent American residency to foreigners who invest in qualified job-creating projects has sweetened the offer—and attracted fresh interest from wealthy Chinese seeking a way out of their country. Many Chinese are worried about their country’s direction after three years of harsh Covid-19 restrictions, tougher ideological controls under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, rising tensions with the West and dimmer economic prospects.
More people are leaving China, from all economic strata, with some feeling an increased sense of urgency. The so-called EB-5 program was launched in the 1990s and has raised more than $40 billion. But despite the original intent to channel foreign investment into economically marginalized spots and create local jobs, much of the money flowed into flashy urban projects, such as Hudson Yards in New York City, sparking criticism in Congress that big-city developers were bending the rules and compromising the program.
Cases of fraud and multiyear waits for EB-5 visas soured many investors on EB-5. Last year, Congress reauthorized the program for an additional five years, this time setting aside one-fifth of the annual 10,000 visas explicitly for rural projects, defined as those in localities that are outside metropolitan areas and have populations below 20,000. Each country gets no more than 7% of that 10,000-visa annual quota, which creates long backlogs for countries with large numbers of applicants, especially China.
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