(RightWing.org) – The Biden administration has updated a visa program that gives wealthy foreign investors a fast track to a green card. The program, introduced at the end of the Cold War, was designed to boost employment – but in recent years had been seen as a security risk.
On March 15, Congress passed Biden’s omnibus spending bill. Contained within it was a bill that reauthorized the EB-5 Investor Visa program. Congress originally launched the EB-5 program in 1990, designed to encourage wealthy investors to move to the US. If a foreigner was willing to invest at least $500,000 and employ 10 or more American workers, they could receive a green card.
Wealthy Chinese nationals looking to obtain a US green card may see their chances improve after President Biden and Congress recently resurrected the EB-5 investor visa program. https://t.co/DCTKL4bjGl
— The Epoch Times – China Insider (@EpochTimesChina) March 23, 2022
Yet, the world has changed a lot since 1990, and Chinese nationals comprised more than half of EB-5 applicants for years. In 2020, the Department for Homeland Security warned the communist state could be exploiting the EB-5 program to build spy networks in the US. Security experts breathed a sigh of relief when the program lapsed last year, but now, it’s back.
Under the updated EB-5 rules, investors will have to contribute at least $800 million, and there are new security measures meant to weed out fraudsters and foreign agents, but are those measures enough? With China growing increasingly aggressive, why has the administration bothered restarting a visa program primarily benefiting our biggest economic competitor?
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