for most of the world getting a
long-term visa into the United States
can take as long as 10 years and
involves countless roadblocks and
hurdles to overcome
but for some wealthy foreign nationals
the path to citizenship can be as easy
as cutting a million-dollar check and
the process is perfectly legal even
encouraged so how exactly can somebody
buy their way to u.s. citizenship well
the current system for investment based
visas is known as the eb-5 immigrant
investor visa program in 2014 nearly
11,000 investors from around the world
have taken advantage of this program
roughly 85% of them Chinese nationals
this has sparked outcry in recent years
that entry into the United States has
become more of a commodity than an equal
opportunity but in fact eb-5 is nothing
new this visa category was established
as part of the Immigration Act of 1990
the act was a major overhaul of a long
outdated immigration policy and
increased the number of yearly
immigrants from 500,000 to 700,000 as
well as providing allocations for
immediate family members of existing
nationals it also removed restrictions
on homosexuality English language
requirements and introduced a series of
new visa categories among them was a
priority on significant investors in the
US economy known as the eb-5 as part of
this new category not only what
applicants have to invest 1 million
dollars or $500,000 if in an
economically struggling area they would
also have to guarantee employment for at
least 10 American workers thereby
promoting a foreign influx of capital
and economic growth for the United
States in exchange these financed ears
would receive green card status and most
of the time they'd make back their money
within a few years after five years
these green card holders are eligible
for full US citizenship but in spite of
this lucrative opportunity golden visas
have only become popular within the last
decade between 1990 and 2007 the program
never came anywhere close to its yearly
10,000 applicant quota according to
Fortune in 2003 the government only
issued
65 eb-5 visas to foreign investors so
why such an influx today well two
factors dramatically increased the
number of applicants the first was the
global economic crisis in 2008
banks in the United States suddenly
tightened up both the criteria necessary
to lend money to businesses as well as
the amount of money available to lend
this made the eb-5 program and
attractive venue for businesses to raise
capital additionally in the last decade
China's economy has skyrocketed with the
number of Chinese millionaires jumping
by nearly 900 percent when compared to
2006 but while this system has generated
a significant amount of economic growth
and American jobs the controversies
surrounding the program's preference for
the wealthy remains in February 2017
senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne
Feinstein introduced legislation to end
the eb-5 visa system calling it
inherently flawed and pointing to fraud
abuse and threats to security but the
United States isn't the only country to
implement such a golden visa program to
learn where else it's possible to buy
citizenship outright check out this
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