Two initiatives of President Obama’s are starting to have positive reverberations in the administration of our immigration laws. Obama’s Start Up America Entrepreneurship Initiative advocates for public-private partnerships to encourage entrepreneurship and job-creating investment. His Jan. 18 executive order mandated review of government regulations with an eye toward reducing regulatory burdens on the public.
The first and most tangible immigration impact of these pronouncements relates to the job creating the EB-5 investor immigration category. The EB-5 program enables foreign investors who invest the requisite amount of money in a project in the United States — $500,000 or $1 million, depending on the geographical area — to obtain a green card in the United States if the investment creates employment for 10 full-time U.S. workers.
