Rich Chinese rush to get US investor visas before costs may soar
China’s wealthy, struggling to get cash out the country amid capital controls, are racing to apply for an investor programme as Congress mulls raising the funding needed
As members of Congress in Washington debate raising the minimum required to obtain a US immigrant investor visa from US$500,000 to US$1.35 million, concern about the rise has set off a scramble among wealthy would-be participants in China.
“Some clients are demanding that we make sure their applications are submitted before April 28”, the date the programme expires unless extended or amended by Congress, said Judy Gao, director of the US programme at Can-Reach (Pacific), a Beijing-based agency that helps with EB-5 Immigrant Investor visas. ”We’re working overtime to do that.“
China’s wealthy, using not-always-legal means to skirt capital controls to get their money out and at the same time gain residency in the US, are continuing to dwarf all others as the largest participants in the EB-5 programme, despite heightened measures by the Chinese government.
The initiative channels money to high-profile US real estate projects from New York to Miami to California, including those by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.
A current plan by the Kushner family to refinance and reconstruct its New York office building at 666 Fifth Avenue is seeking US$850 million in EB-5 funding, as well as cash from Anbang Insurance Group and other investors, according to terms of the proposal. A spokesman for Kushner Cos declined to comment.