Editorial Board
The Investor Visa Program Should Be Scrapped
It's widely misused and failing to work as intended.
Crime scene.
Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty ImagesThe omnibus spending bill currently before Congress includes a small but ill-conceived program that deserves to be noticed, then deleted. The EB-5 Regional Center program that gives visas to investors invites abuse and is failing to do what it's meant to.
Since 1990, foreigners who invest $1 million (or, in rural or high-unemployment areas, $500,000) in a new enterprise that creates at least 10 full-time jobs can get an EB-5 visa and, after two years, a green card. In 1992, Congress modified the system, creating the Regional Center program to let investors pool their contributions to fund enterprises within designated areas. Last year, these regional centers accounted for 93 percent of the roughly 10,000 EB-5 visas issued.