Chinese keen on investment immigration program

Redevelopment project in San Francisco has received $200 million in the past two years from Chinese investors who hope to secure the green card through the investment, said a report by The World Post.

San Francisco Shipyards project is a typical example of the federal EB-5 program, which allows foreigners to obtain residency permits for themselves and their families in exchange for investments of $1 million -- with the threshold for high unemployment areas, like the Shipyards, set lower at $500,000.

San Francisco Bay Area Regional Center (SFBARC), who helps to bring in foreign direct investment through the EB-5 program, plans to raise another $250 million in the coming year for the project, according to the report.

Ginny Fang, CEO of SFBARC, was quoted as saying that more than 80 percent of the center's clients are Chinese.

An earlier report by the US-based National Association of Realtors said that China has become the biggest buyer of US properties, as investors from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan purchased about a quarter of international sales of US properties.

For the period of April 2013 through March 2014, the estimated investment from the Chinese totaled $22 billion, with 76 percent acquisitions in cash, said the report.