EB-5

Portland, Oregon is one of those small, big cities. It's somewhat isolated from other bigger cites and is quite provincial in it's outlook. Economically, Portland is not a force to be reckoned with.  Many of the best educated young from the city leave for greater economic opportunity, sort of like my former home, New Orleans. Portland, uh, needs investment help if it wants to become a vibrant economic city. But it's getting a little of it recently in the form of a federal immigration program that I had no idea existed. According to a law passed in 1990 by the U.S.

Congress started the program to fund foreigners help fund big commercial real estate projects when offered a U.S. Green Card fast and for the whole family (Several Portland buildings have had such foreign investment).  The EB-5 program lets them get U.S. residency simply because they have money they are willing to invest in a U.S. construction project.  Hmmmm Seems to be a contradiction to what our politicians say about equality in immigration.

The EB-5 program has backed most of those projects in cities that are bigger than Portland,  including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, because that's where most foreigners want to live. To get into the program one needs to have $500,000 to invest into a building project in a high unemployment area, or $1 million in a location with normal employment rates. Almost no one chooses the $1 million option because the people using this program are not multi millionaires.  They are often young, upper middle class types who borrow from family members to accrue the $500,000 needed.

The investment  they make must create at least 10 full time, permanent jobs. That's the justification for the program. Congress says it's worth letting some people jump to the head of the immigration line if they create jobs for Americans when they come. Once they plunk down the $500,000 investment in the (usually it's to build expensive high-rise buildings that require a huge financial investment from many investors)  the investor receives a Green Card for themselves, their spouse and any children under the age of 21. The process is quicker and easier than the traditional Green Card application process, and most people can move to the U.S. a couple years after the investment is made.

There are 10,000 Green Cards available through the program each year and around 85 percent of the investments come from China. The Chinese like it because, even though most of the people who participate in the program and are not wealthy,  they do it to get the citizenship and also to benefit their children. The U.S. still has the best colleges in the world and if one wants to succeed in the global economy, it's an advantage for the kids to go to U.S. universities.

I wonder if this program is common elsewhere. I have heard that a number of capitalist countries use similar lures for foreign money, so maybe it is. The fact is though, EB-5  has evolved into primarily a real estate funding source for big projects. But it's unfair to those who want to reside here, may have more or unique talents to contribute to the U.S., but don't have $500,000 to pay to do so. It's also somewhat secretive, maybe putting national security at greater risk and it makes some of those who choose the EB-5 vulnerable to fraud.  No doubt many of them will lose some or much of their $500,000 investment.

But we live in a world driven by economics. I guess it's "buyer beware" for both the investors and for the United States. So be it.