"Tampa explores jobs-for-visas idea to lure foreign investors"

[kmarc]

Investor Visa probe:

?INVESTOR VISA? PROBE - WWW.THEDAILY.COM

A fraud magnet.

[gulfer]

A very interesting read. Thanks for posting.

[lavender]

Digital Domain film company failure leaves state on hook for $20M - Tampa Bay Times

I think a foreign investment is better than a taxpayer investment

[lavender]

Kmarc that is an interesting article, and I have always wondered about potential fraud for this as it's a paid for visa. As a person who had to go through a long weary and expensive process of migration to the USA I used to look at the ads that came to me via email,( how do these people find you), from brokers selling Jay Peak in VT and wish I had $500,000 - I might have been tempted. But then if I had $500,000 I would not have been so stressed about getting by on one income for our family. Anyway those visas since 2008 have increased probably because of the global crash and because the USA is still seen as the most stable going forward for most people a point that many here dont seem to understand because they are hurting just now, but not as bad as the rest of the world. The number of applications since 2008 if they are all approved, will have brought into the country from just over 12000 applicants the sum of $6,100,500,000 Thats not a shabby amount of money that has fallen into US coffers somewhere. Plus those people also have to buy homes, buy goods, pay taxes and add more to the economy because they can't come if they cant support themselves. The ones issued in the years before 2008 created almost 47,000 jobs. The applications after 2008 are approximately 20% higher than previous years, so if they create the same relative number of jobs it's looking at 56,000 newly created roles. Even at lower, service industry rates, thats a good thing. This doesn't take jobs out of the market, really, most of the people who invest this money are entrepreneurial and the risk is with them. I know if they fail people lose jobs, but the reality is, that they probably give a lot to local enonomies where they invest. I'd say that these are probably the least risk to US workers and job losses than any of the varied entry visas the country offers. However, if it's being used fraudulently and there is a money laundering aspect to be investigated then it should be looked at closely. Obviously someone is making money out of this here, but that's part of the entrepreneurial spirit that makes the country great - I would like to think that those agents here are working within the legal framework of Real Estate Laws of the USA.