Genilde Guerra
Genilde E. Guerra
Attorney at Law
Law Offices of Kravitz & Guerra, PA.
Immigration*Real Estate*International Corporate Law
800 Brickell Avenue, Suite 701, Miami, Florida 33131 - USA
MIAMI (+1) 305 372-0222 FAX (+1)305 372-0400
I M M I G R A T I O N
By Genilde Guerra, Attorney at Law
PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR LARGE INVESTORS - THE EMPLOYMENT CREATION PROGRAM
The United States offers a very interesting program for people who are able to invest at least US$1 million dollars in a business venture in the U.S.: The Permanent Residence for Large Investors.
Since $1M dollars is no longer such a large amount of money in today’s economy, this option has become a very reasonable one for many foreigners whose main objective is to relocate permanently to the U.S.
So instead of going through a temporary visa such as the E-2 investor visa, the foreign investor could opt to jump directly to the permanent residence petition.
Basis for qualification is very simple: Invest $1M of your own capital at risk in a business venture in the U.S. and in the process, create 10 new jobs.
The foreign investor does not have to control the business venture; he/she can merge his money with other investors and buy a much larger enterprise, as long as his $1M investment creates at least 10 jobs. So theoretically, if a group of 10 French investors decides to get together and buy participation and remodel a hotel, each one investing $1M, if the after the purchase and remodeling the hotel will gain 100 employees, all 10 investors and their families could obtain permanent residence (green cards).
The “job creation” part of the program does not even need to be as direct; if by investing in a construction company, 10 new jobs will be indirectly created because of the sub-contractors that will need to hire additional personnel to render services to the company, such job creation could also qualify under the program requirements.
If the foreign investor invests in a “troubled business”, then the job creation requirement may even be waived.
There are also “employment creation target areas” designated by the U.S. government where the foreign investor only needs to invest $500,000 while creating the 10 new jobs to qualify for the program.
The foreign investors and their immediate families (spouse and unmarried children under 21 years old) are issued 2-year “conditional resident” status. If the enterprise and the jobs are maintained for 2 years, then the investor and the family members receive their permanent resident cards.
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