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Retail and office complex in California planning to use EB-5 funding
The southern California community of Murrieta is planning to use the federal EB-5 visa program to secure funding for its $12 million retail and office space complex called the Olivewood Project, 10News.com reports.
Bruce Coleman, Murrieta's director of economic development, said that almost half of the project's funding will come from foreign investment from a number of different countries, including China, Russia, Peru and Japan.
The federal EB-5 visa program enables foreign nationals to obtain U.S. green card eligibility by making an investment of $1 million (or $500,000 in some areas) in an American company or project that either creates or maintains at least 10 full-time jobs.
Many such investors come from China, as investors from the country obtained the most EB-5 visas during fiscal 2009, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Rick Gibbs, a Murrieta city councilman, told the news source that the EB-5 program was critical for the project.
"They would not be proceeding right now if not for the EB-5 money," he said, adding that "the U.S. needs jobs for our citizens and this does that."
[...] was also the catalyst for Murrieta using the EB-5 Visa program to raise the $12M needed to develop a shopping center in the city. This program requires that there be a job creation element for the investment. I have [...]