(Ecns.cn) – Almost three quarters of this year's U.S. immigrant investors turn out to be from China, putting the country at the top of the list of applicants under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, according to the latest statistics released in a United State Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) report.
The report showed that Chinese multimillionaires benefited more from the EB-5 than those from any other nation. So far this year, a total of 2,969 Chinese citizens have applied for the EB-5 visa, and 934 of them have been approved. The number is about ten times that of 2007, when only 270 Chinese people applied, with 161 approved.
Considered an ideal destination for the world's immigrants, the U.S. has long been attracting applicants seeking permanent residency via investment. With the number of multimillionaires increasing rapidly in China in recent years, more and more Chinese citizens qualify for this avenue.
As long as one has at least $1 million to invest and can directly or indirectly create at least 10 jobs in the U.S., it is possible to get an EB-5 green card that comes with permanent US residency rights.
The U.S Congress approved the Immigrant Investor Program for foreign nationals in 1990, as a means to boost the country's economy and counter high domestic unemployment rates.
The Hurun Wealth Report 2011 confirms China had 960,000 individuals with personal wealth in excess of 10 million yuan ($1.56 million) in 2010, a 9.7% increase over the previous year. In the past three years, about 17 billion yuan ($2.63 billion)of capital has gone overseas.
