Immigrant investor visas are big business

What began as a rarely used path to U.S. citizenship for wealthy foreigners has become big business in American real estate, one that Congress is considering for reform.

The EB-5 immigrant investor program allows citizens of foreign countries to acquire U.S. visas by investing a minimum of $500,000 into American businesses as long as the money creates at least 10 jobs.

A decade ago, the program was barely used. By one count, only 346 such visas were issued nationwide in 2005.

But as real estate developers and other firms looked for investors willing to fund their projects following the recession, EB-5 became a popular source of capital, particularly for hotel and mixed-use real estate projects in California, Florida, New York and Washington, D.C.

In 2011, 3,340 visas were issued in the program, according to the EB-5 Investment Coalition, a trade group.

The number jumped 6,628 in 2012 and 8,543 2013.

Last year, a record 10,692 EB-5 visas were issued, according to real estate services firm Savills.

The investments made to acquire the visas brought more than $1.5 billion and 31,000 jobs to the U.S. economy in 2013, according to a paper commissioned by the trade group. In D.C., investors have put up more than $110 million and created 1,584 jobs, through the development of projects including the Marriott Marquis convention center hotel, a pair of hotels on New York Avenue NE and City Market at O, a mixed-use project in Shaw.

Major hotel chains, including Hilton Worldwide, based in McLean, Va., have begun funding projects using EB-5 money.

“It’s a method

of to in

financ- ing that’s current, available and very credible,” said Craig Mance, Hilton senior vice president for development in North America, in a statement. “It’s helping deals move forward.”

But some say that as the program has grown, regulation of it has fallen behind.

There have been recent allegations of fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged two firms that were not registered for the program with illegally brokering more than $79 million in investments.

The companies, one of which is based in Florida, didn’t admit to wrongdoing but agreed to be censured and not to commit similar violations in the future, according to the SEC.

Other criticisms of the program are that it has not done enough to benefit targeted poor areas, particularly in rural communities, and that its vetting process might not meet national security guidelines. About 85 percent of the EB-5 visas issued in 2013 went to China, with others going to South Korea, Japan, Britain, Russia and other countries, according to another trade group, Invest in the USA.

Legislation authorizing the program is set to expire in September, and although Congress has reauthorized it in recent years, members of both parties have proposed a series of substantial reforms.

On June 4, Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman and ranking minority member of the Judiciary Committee, respectively, proposed legislation that would reauthorize the program with some changes. The senators proposed tightening oversight of companies that arrange the investments, raising the minimum investment from $500,000 to $800,000 and requiring investors to prove that they create the jobs for which they earn visas. Separate legislation has been submitted in the House.