Immigration Program to Fund Rays Stadium
Going by Oakland’s lead, Tampa officials are now looking into an obscure federal US visa program as a means of funding their new Tampa Bay Rays stadium.
Tampa and St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce officials who had been studying on the means to pay for the new Rays stadium half-billion-dollar tab are now considering the federal American visa program called EB-5.
Also known as Immigrant Investor Program, EB-5 US visa application was created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors.
Basically, EB-5 visa provides a method of obtaining a U.S. citizenship for foreign nationals by investing a million dollars into a U.S. corporation.
Under the program, foreign nationals must invest one million dollars (or a minimum investment of $500,000 in a “Targeted Employment Area” – which are economically disadvantaged areas with high unemployment) each to create or to preserve at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers excluding the investor and their immediate family. This would qualify them for a green card for themselves and their families.
Once the foreign national investor’s USA visa application petition is approved, a conditional permanent residence valid for two years will be granted to the investor and their dependents. Within the period of 90 days before the conditional permanent residence expires, an evidence documenting that the full required investment has been made and that 10 jobs have been maintained, or 10 jobs have been created or will be created within a reasonable time period must be submitted by the investor.
EB-5 had been used in raising money for smaller projects, like office buildings and business parks.
For example, according to a recent Bloomberg News report, the EB-5 program has been providing funds of up to $228 million for a massive new retail, housing and basketball arena complex for the New Jersey Nets in Brooklyn, New York.
Chuck Sykes, co-chairman of the Tampa chamber group, stated that they have been exploring EB-5 visa financing, considering giving it a role in their Rays stadium financing.
Sykes and 13 other business leaders from the cities’ chambers of commerce have been meeting for nearly a year, studying on the means to fund for a new Rays stadium.
At present, Sykes’ group has been considering the EB-5 program as they try hard to find a source of funding that doesn’t rely heavily on local governments.
Created 22 years ago, foreign investors’ use of the EB-5 program has been far less than originally anticipated by Congress.
In 2007, there were only 776 foreigners who had taken the first step in the EB-5 immigration process. However, in the past few years, it has exploded in popularity as real estate developers and cities attempt to raise money as they build hotels, buy shopping centers and, occasionally, finance sports facilities.
In 2011, according to data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, there were more than 3,805 EB-5 applications that have been filed, as compared to the fewer than 800 applications in 2007.
Meanwhile, in recent months, critics have been found attacking the EB-5 program’s results.
According to the Bloomberg article, though many foreign investors sometimes invest their money into American development projects, hoping to get a green card a couple of years later; however, in reality, some of these projects collapse, never creating the promised jobs, and eliminating the chance for the foreigners in getting their green cards.
Some critics also say that the program is not exactly the most successful as there are only few applications that were approved out of 3,805 applicants in 2011, only 1,403 were approved and with many other municipalities seeking the same sort of business investments, it is said to be an uneven method to raise money.
However, advocates of the program insist that such horror stories are not the norm and that most projects do create jobs.
Visa build Shield for Possible Hackers
With the advent of more advanced internet technologies, there is an increasing number of transactions that are now done via the internet.
As millions of people are now turning to the internet for their purchases and other business transactions, and in an era when mobile purchases on smartphones and tablets are predicted to achieve a growth of 73% to $11.6 billion in the U.S. this year, it’s no surprise that security has become a necessary obsession with businesses or organizations with dealing in the internet.
According to the market researcher Gartner, there are more than half of the world’s 13,000 large data centers and are located in the United States.
National Visas USA Visa Application Online
Interested to apply for a USA visa?
Australia’s top leading provider of Australian immigration advice and Australian visa, National Visas, is now currently providing USA visa application online!
National Visas which is internationally recognized as a world-class provider of affordable personalized Australian immigration advice, support, and services has now launched its latest website that caters to people seeking to apply for United States visa.
So, people who require US visa info can now seek the help of National Visas as National Visas can provide them with this information.
Basically, National Visas can help people who want to apply for Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA).
An ESTA is an online travel authority that is issued electronically over the Internet to passport holder (excluding Canadian and Mexican passport holders) of eligible Visa Waver Program (VWP) countries that are outside the USA.
