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ORLANDO, Florida: Some American companies are trying to attract overseas investment by offering US greencards to wealthy foreigners as an incentive.
As part of a pilot program, US Immigration authorities have approved several 'regional centres' – made up of corporations, organisations or agencies – that can offer EB5 immigrant visas to foreign nationals who are willing invest their money in a development.
The Lake Buena Vista Resort and Spa is one of 45 entities to be named a 'regional centre' by the US government.
The designation means that it has more than 100 greencards available to attract wealthy foreigners to invest one million dollars each in the development.
Developer Larry Cohen said domestic economic conditions prompted him to look for money from overseas.
"We've had the buyers who wanted to buy the units, had the desire and the money to do so, but there are no loans available. That's where the real crunch came," he said.
Each investor gets two residential units at the resort, each priced at around US$400,000, and receives a share of the income generated by tourists staying in those units.
The government requires each foreign investment to create at least ten jobs, directly or indirectly.
Out of 10,000 EB5 greencards made available annually, 3,000 are allocated to the national 'regional centre' pilot programme.
Ofer Fridfertig, who oversees the resort's operations, said he has received thousands of inquiries.
"At least 45 per cent of our Internet hits are coming from China and we've gotten a lot of questions and requests for information from China," he said.
Fridfertig also travelled to China recently to try to attract investors who are interested in US residency.
Applications for investment-based greencards shot up in 2008, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. A greencard holder can travel freely to and from the United States, and reside in America permanently.
But immigration lawyer Ramachandran Balaraman said interest in EB5 greencards has declined recently due to the global economic slowdown and strength in the US dollar.
He said would-be investors must face scrutiny by US authorities. "The government wants to make sure that whatever you are investing comes from a legal source of funds. So it cannot be bad money, it has to be clean money."
He also cautioned that potential investors should make sure that the enterprise they are putting money into is legitimate.
- CNA/so
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