After the Trump administration accused top Indian IT companies of unfairly cornering a big share of H-1B visas, companies like TCS and Infosys have looked for ways to continue their operations in the US without sending Indian employees on site in the US. Notably, US is the largest market for the over $110-billion Indian IT export industry. Many wealthy Indians have found a new way to get a US green card for themselves and their families.
Known as the EB-5 Investor Visa program, this green card provides an opportunity for immigrant foreign nationals and their immediate family (children up to the age of 21) to obtain US green cards.
The EB-5 visa is also known as the “Golden Visa”, because it is quite expensive. To get the EB-5 visa, one has to make an one-time investment of a minimum $500,000 into a new US business that creates 10 or more American jobs.
China leads in securing these visas. Currently, it has 85 per cent of the 10,000 EB-5 visas awarded every year. Now, due to increased awareness of the EB-5 program and the uncertainty surrounding H-1B visas, more and more rich Indians are flocking to the golden visa programme to get the coveted US Green Card.
Every week, on average, three Indians are signing up to shell out half-a-million dollars each to have a go at living the American dream, claimed a NDTV report.
The EB-5 visa program would allow foreigners, who invest between $500,000 and $1 million in qualified projects in the US, to apply for permanent resident status for themselves and their families.
While the EB-5 visa was not popular initially, however after the 2008 financial crisis, the program has seen massive interest from Chinese millionaires.
