EMPLOYMENT
CREATION INVESTORS
There
are 10,000 visas allocated annually for investors
who create employment. Basically, a person who
invests $1 million in a business that employs 10 people
will qualify for a green card. In "targeted
employment areas it is possible to invest $500,000.
(See "Investing
in the U.S.A.")
Permanent
resident status in this category is available to investors,
either alone or coming with their spouse and unmarried
children. Eligible aliens are those who have invested
-- or are actively in the process of investing --
the required amount of capital into a new commercial
enterprise that they have established.
They
must further demonstrate that this investment will
benefit the United States economy and create the requisite
number of full-time jobs for qualified persons within
the United States.
In general, "eligible individuals" include
those:
1. Who establish a new commercial enterprise by:
-
- creating an original business;
-
- purchasing an existing business and simultaneously
or subsequently restructuring or reorganizing the
business such that a new commercial enterprise results;
or
- -
expanding an existing business by 140 percent of
the pre-investment number of jobs or net worth,
or retaining all existing jobs in a troubled business
that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the
past 12 to 24 months; and
2.
Who have invested -- or who are actively in the process
of investing -- in a new commercial enterprise:
- -
at least $1,000,000, or
- -
at least $500,000 where the investment is being
made in a "targeted employment area,"
which is an area that has experienced unemployment
of at least 150 per cent of the national average
rate or a rural area as designated by OMB; and
3.
Whose engagement in a new commercial enterprise will
benefit the United States economy and:
- -
create full-time employment for not fewer than 10
qualified individuals; or
- -
maintain the number of existing employees at no
less than the pre-investment level for a period
of at least two years, where the capital investment
is being made in a "troubled business,"
which is a business that has been in existence for
at least two years and that has lost 20 percent
of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months.
- Main
Employment Page
