投资者对美国特殊签证有极大需求

High Demand from Investors¹ for Special US Visas 投资者对美国特殊签证有极大需求

The number of people from other countries -- especially China -- who want to invest in the United States in exchange for a permanent resident visa reached its highest level in 2015.

The program is known as EB-5 or Employment-Based Fifth Initiative. It was created in 1990 during the presidency² of George W. Bush and supported by both major political parties.

The United States Citizenship³ and Immigration Services says the program gives permanent resident status to those who invest at least $1,000,000 in a new project “that will create or preserve at least ten full-time⁴ jobs in the United States” within about two years. The agency says a foreign citizen needs to invest just “$500,000 if the (project) is in a targeted employment area,” which includes some rural areas and areas with high joblessness. Critics of the program say much of the investment takes place in wealthy cities like Dallas, New York and Washington.

The USCIS reported there were 17,691 requests for EB-5 visas in 2015. In 2013 there were 6,554 requests.

Experts say the reason for the sharp increase last year is rich people were worried that the program would be cancelled. But in December, it was extended for 10 months.

The USCIS told Congress that an estimated “$8.7 billion has been invested into the U.S. economy through the EB-5 program since October 1, 2012.” It estimates “35,140 jobs have been created for U.S. workers through foreign investment via the EB-5 program.”

The Wall Street Journal newspaper recently reported that more than 80 percent of the EB-5 visas are given to Chinese investors. The newspaper reports many investors are given two or three visas and use them to give family members permanent resident status.

Without the program, many of them would have to wait many years before they could legally enter and live in the U.S. The U.S. State Department reports some Chinese citizens who have asked for visas without taking part in the program have been waiting since 2001.

Questions raised on the visa program

In 2014, The Washington City Paper reported that Chinese take part in the program not to make money but to be able to educate their children in the United States. Another reason, the paper reported, “is the ability to own private property, which can be difficult in China.”

The Government Accountability Office reported last year that some people who have asked for or been given an EB-5 visa might have lied about where they earned their money. The GAO report said some of the money that is invested in job-creating businesses may come from the “drug trade, human trafficking or other criminal activities.”

The report said the USCIS should increase its efforts to prevent and find fraud in the program and should ask people who are applying for an EB-5 visa to give more information. It also said USCIS should study the program to see how many new jobs are created. USCIS said it agreed with the GAO recommendations.

Republican Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa is a frequent critic of the program. He recently told The New York Times “it’s no secret that the program has long been riddled⁶ with corruption⁷ and national security vulnerabilities.” Last week, he led a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that investigated the reported abuse of the “targeted employment area” part of the program.

Senator Dianne Feinstein is a Democrat⁸ from California. She has said “I don’t believe that America should be selling visas and eventually citizenship.” And she said “The right to immigrate⁹ should not be for sale.”

Senator Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, has supported the EB-5 program since it began. But he recently called for major changes.  

In a statement, he said “fraud and abuse cannot be tolerated, no matter where it occurs. Even when there is no indication of fraud, the incentives¹¹ that Congress created to direct EB-5 investment to underserved areas are regularly abused. Given the significant problems plaguing this program, I will continue to push for meaningful reform. Without reform, I believe the time has come for the program to end.”

Carolyn Lee is an attorney and managing partner at the EB-5 group at the Miller¹² Mayer law firm in Ithaca, New York. The firm says it has helped raise more than $3 billion in EB-5 funding for projects in at least eleven American states. It has helped investors gain more than 5,000 visas. It has been involved with the program for 20 years.

She told VOA “there’s no question that the program can be improved.” She says Congress needs to watch the program more closely, and she said background investigations¹³ should be more thorough.

But she disagrees with Senator Feinstein that the program sells visas and citizenship to rich people.

“I don’t think it is quite fair to characterize it in that way. We confer immigration benefits based on a number of factors. The policy goal that is furthered with this program is U.S. economic growth,” she said.

She says visas and citizenship are “an asset, an ideal, almost sacred. What do you want to give for this national asset?” 

Words in This Story

status – n. the official position of a person or thing according to the law

via – preposition by means of (a person, machine, etc.); by using (something or someone)

riddle⁵ – v. to fill (something) with something that is bad or unpleasant -- usually used as “riddled with”

incentive¹⁰ – n. something that encourages a person to do something or to work harder

plague – v. to cause constant or repeated trouble, illness, etc., for (someone or something)

background – n. the experiences, knowledge, education, etc., in a person’s past

characterize – v. to describe the character or special qualities of (someone or something)

confer – v. to give (something, such as a degree, award, title, right, etc.) to someone or something -- usually + on or upon

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

3 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

6 riddled   

adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式)

参考例句：

• The beams are riddled with woodworm. 这些木梁被蛀虫蛀得都是洞。
• The bodies of the hostages were found riddled with bullets. 在人质的尸体上发现了很多弹孔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

9 immigrate   

v.（从外国）移来，移居入境

参考例句：

• 10,000 people are expected to immigrate in the next two years.接下来的两年里预计有10，000人会移民至此。
• Only few plants can immigrate to the island.只有很少的植物能够移植到这座岛上。

10 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

11 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

12 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

13 investigations   

（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究

参考例句：

• His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
• He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。