The U.S. government's EB-5 visa program. Another example of welfare for the rich!

Guest post: America's giveaway to rich foreigners continues

Guest post by Brad Barros, Attainium Capital Development

A national law firm recently approached me to develop a privately owned insurance company (“captive”) for participants in the U.S. government’s EB5 program. Historically, the program afforded wealthy foreigners the ability to obtain a green card by investing at least $500,000 into “Targeted Employment Areas” and developing new “certified” commercial enterprises in the United States that create or maintain a minimum of 10 U.S. jobs.

While the EB5 program was developed to encourage entrepreneurial development and job creation, my preliminary research uncovered that many participants today are simply investors lending $500,000 over a modest five-year term to U.S. real estate developers constructing HUD projects. These developers access the funds for a mere 100 basis points per annum, and then use the borrowed funds to cover soft costs and other expenses. Essentially, the EB5 program as marketed by some immigration attorneys trades the benefits of American residency for the short-term loan of cheap dollars, in order to fund U.S. government-subsidized projects. Historically, taxpayer -supported housing programs such as these do not create long-term jobs, and are nearly guaranteed to succeed when Uncle Sam foots the bill, thereby further eliminating the entrepreneurial and efficacious job creation aspect behind the intent of the federal program.