Why the EB-5 green card is so fast.
EB-5 investor visas are now the quickest way to immigrate and obtain a green card, behind marrying a U.S. citizen, being a person of extraordinary ability, an outstanding researcher or a national interest waiver petition (except for China and India the national interest is slower than EB-5). This is because there are a guaranteed 10,000 EB-5 visa numbers each year and only about a third have never been used.
The typical employment-sponsored visa categories take years to complete. For example, the employment based 2nd and 3rd preferences require a labor certification from the Department of Labor proving worker shortage (which in this economy can be hard to obtain for non-technology workers) that can take a year and a half to be issued. One must then wait for a visa number to complete the green card process. Applicants from China and India under the EB-2 must wait years for visa numbers.
The EB-3 category for all countries can take seven to eight years for a visa number and up to 20 years for a person from China or India. Some day Congress will fix the system – but in the meantime, EB-5 processing in about one year remains very appealing. Most EB-5s invest in Regional Centers, which are limited partnerships.
There are now 70 approved Regional Centers and 30 on file. Many are placeholders and not off the ground. Only about 20 are active. I can send you a list of the established Regional Centers and a few of the new ones. Another alternative involves investing in one’s own business. In either the regional center or your own business 10 jobs must be created.
I can refer investors to a risk analyst to help evaluate regional center projects. I also have an easy to understand flowchart of the EB-5 process. It is up on my website in English and Chinese.
Martin J. Lawler
1 comment:
When you use the phrase "labor shortage" or "skills shortage" you're speaking in a sentence fragment. What you actually mean to say is: "There is a labor shortage at the salary level I'm willing to pay." That statement is the correct phrase; the complete sentence and the intellectually honest statement.
Some people speak about shortages as though they represent some absolute, readily identifiable lack of desirable services. Price is rarely accorded its proper importance in their discussion.
If you start raising wages and improving working conditions, and continue doing so, you'll solve your shortage and will have people lining up around the block to work for you even if you need to have huge piles of steaming manure hand-scooped on a blazing summer afternoon.
If you think there's going to be a shortage caused by employees retiring out of the workforce: Guess again: With the majority of retirement accounts down about 50% or more, most people entering retirement age are working well into their sunset years. So, you won’t be getting a worker shortage anytime soon due to retirees exiting the workforce.
Okay, fine. Some specialized jobs require training and/or certification, again, the solution is higher wages and improved benefits. People will self-fund their re-education so that they can enter the industry in a work-ready state. The attractive wages, working conditions and career prospects of technology during the 1980’s and 1990’s was a prime example of people’s willingness to self-fund their own career re-education.
There is never enough of any good or service to satisfy all wants or desires. A buyer, or employer, must give up something to get something. They must pay the market price and forego whatever else he could have for the same price. The forces of supply and demand determine these prices -- and the price of a skilled workman is no exception. The buyer can take it or leave it. However, those who choose to leave it (because of lack of funds or personal preference) must not cry shortage. The good is available at the market price. All goods and services are scarce, but scarcity and shortages are by no means synonymous. Scarcity is a regrettable and unavoidable fact.
Shortages are purely a function of price. The only way in which a shortage has existed, or ever will exist, is in cases where the "going price" has been held below the market-clearing price.
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