October 10, 2019
Tech Giants Might Consider Investment Visa to Enter America
The American Immigration Consultants (Regional Centres) are pitching about the EB-5 visa program to Indian IT companies like TCS, Infosys and Wipro to move top executive to America.
Traditionally, Indian IT companies send their employees on H-1 or L-1 visas, non-immigrant visa. But the uncertainties in H-1B visa programs with the Trump administration, a new alternative has emerged – EB-5 immigrant visa program.
What is the EB-5 immigrant visa program?
The EB-5 visa is an immigrant visa programme that offers permanent residency for foreigners who invest at least $500,000 (about Rupees 3 crore) in projects that will generate at least 10 full-time jobs in the U.S.
The fundamental difference between H-1 or L-1 and EB-5 is that an EB-5 visa is an “immigrant” visa.
The EB-5 visa provides the individual with a green card, or lawful permanent residence in the United States. H-1B and L-1 visas are “non-immigrant” visas, which means that the visa is temporary, and the holder of the visa intends to return to his or her home country.
India ranks third in the total number of EB-5 applications after China and Vietnam. Experts predict, that this year, India will become the second largest EB-5 visa market in the world. The number of applications for the EB-5 visas has increased at a staggering rate in recent years, resulting in a jump to 354 petitions in 2016 -17 from 239 petitions in 2015-16. Most such investments came from Indian parents gifting $500,000 to their children studying in the US and intending to settle or move to America.
However, experts are of the opinion “that the IT companies would not take the risk of spending $0.5 million to get an executive a Green Card, only at the risk of them leaving”.
Sukanya Raman, Immigration Executive
Keywords: IT Companies, EB-5, H-1, L-1 Green card
