In 1990 a program known as EB-5 was created by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in order to benefit US businesses. The program offers US visas to immigrant investors in order to stimulate economic growth and create jobs across the nation.
The EB-5 visa system or to give it its official title, the Immigrant Investor Program, falls under the umbrella of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, which designates Regional Centers in all states, where investors are able to apply for and obtain them. In order to comply with the terms of the legislation immigrant investors must invest a minimum of $500,000 into a US business and at least 10 jobs must be created. The holder of the visa will then be given a permanent green card.
The immigrant investor program has recently been abolished in Canada and as a result a number of business people are instead choosing to come to the United States. There are around 65,000 investors currently waiting to be approved by the Canadian government and so the USCIS is preparing for an influx of EB-5 developers and projects in the US. Many of these investors come from China and are eager to set up businesses in the West. It is expected that over $32 billion worth of investment money will come into the US directly as a result of EB-5 US visas.
One of the key reasons immigrant investors have been opting to move to Canada is because of the country’s healthcare services, desirable economic and environmental conditions and the education system, all of which can also be found in the United States.
