The US ran out of visas for China applicants under the EB-5 program.
For the first time ever, the US has reached its limit for EB-5 investor visas for China. As per the US State Department, the EB-5 Chinese applicants limit for fiscal year 2014 has already been reached by August 23, 2014. The next batch will be available only from October 1, 2014 onwards, which is the beginning of the next fiscal year 2015.
For now, the applicants who have been scheduled for US consulate interviews in Guangzhou will be unaffected.
EB-5 investor visas are applied for by applicants under the EB-5 program. Also called the investor-immigration program, the initiative allots 10,000 visas to foreigners annually, who want to reside in the US. In order to be eligible, the foreigners should have invested at least $500,000 in US projects that create at least 10 sustainable job opportunities for US residents. Applicants that have been allotted the visas get permanent residency with their family.
In case a country’s quota of visas is not met, remaining visas are forwarded to applicants of other countries. At present, China gets 7 percent of the available visas every year.
According to Association to Invest in the USA statistics, the country ranks No. 1 as the place of origin for EB-5 applications, followed by South Korea, Taiwan, Iran, Great Britain and India, .
Photo Credits: The Wall Street Journal
