Critics call it the “cash for green card” program, proponents say it’s a job booster that the US economy desperately needs.
The EB-5 visa program grants permanent resident status to foreign investors who inject $500,000 into a US business that leads to the creation of at least 10 jobs. Implemented in 1990, the program is set to sunset on Sept. 30.
As Congress prepares to take up its reauthorization, many opponents of the programs are asking whether it should be scrapped entirely.
EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
Guests:
Leslie Berestein Rojas, KPCC's Immigration and Emerging Communities Reporter. Her recent pieces have looked at the impact of the EB-5 program in the San Gabriel Valley
Peter Joseph, Executive Director of Invest in USA, the national nonproft industry trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Program
John Vogel, Associate Faculty Director of the Center for Business & Society at Dartmouth University who has written about the EB-5 program