Policy shift will help more immigrant entrepreneurs qualify for permanent residency
The feds want to make green cards easier to get for foreigners who have dreams of starting businesses in America, officials said Tuesday.
Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, announced a policy shift Tuesday that will help more immigrant entrepreneurs qualify for permanent residency.
“What we hope is that we will receive more applications and petitions,” Mayorkas said.
No laws are being changed. Instead, Mayorkas’ agency is highlighting possible loopholes and waivers that will ease bids for green cards for foreign entrepreneurs – especially those who want to set up shop in high-tech industries.
Calling the initiative “an important step forward,” Mayorkas said the agency is “dedicated to ensuring that the potential of our immigration laws is fully realized.”
Agency staff who examine applications for permanent residency are being trained to know how visa rules apply differently to owners of startup businesses.
Business-minded applicants who show that their work is in America’s best interest will have their visa applications fast-tracked.
Previous requirements – such as a job offer from an existing company and a certification from the Department of Labor – will no longer be necessary.
The rules can also now be stretched so that techies who are the sole owner and only employee of their companies can essentially petition for a visa by themselves.
In those cases, applicants must have the backing of the startup’s shareholders or corporate board in order to qualify for a temporary work visa, known as H-1B.
The new policies, however, don’t change quotas that only allot a certain number of work visas every year to highly skilled immigrants from a particular foreign country.
Those quotas are widely seen as creating long wait times for skilled workers, especially those from China and India.
Meanwhile:
- Mexico’s Unemployment Rate is 4.9%
- China’s Unemployment Rate is 5.2%
- India’s Unemployment Rate is 9.1%
- The United States Unemployment Rate is 9.2%
Immigrants are able to enhance their chances of gaining Green Card Eligibility with the assistance of the Eb5 Visa Program for example. Immigrants are encouraged to invest money into the United States which is to be used to create new work in the country. The minimum that can be invested into the country is five hundred thousand dollars. The money is usually invested into areas or investment portfolios where there is a very high rate of unemployment. Typically, the jobs created usually go to the immigrant’s family members who come over because of these “new” jobs.
There are benefits of this program that differ from others ways in which people can get into the country. The Eb5 green card visa permits children under the age of twenty one and spouses legal citizens without having to pay extra money. This program does not require any form of sponsorship. As the foreigner uses his or her own money, money is not required by family members or the employer of the person seeking to get into the country. -Source
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Category: American Voice, Establishment News
