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St Louis looks to immigration to help floundering economy
Ascertaining a dire need to promote entrepreneurship, immigration and economic development in metro Missouri, the St Louis County Economic Council has applied to become eligible for foreign investment under the EB-5 visa program.
Under the federal program, foreign nationals become eligible for a U.S. green card in exchange for an investment of at least $500,000 in an economically distressed area.
Currently, the city of St Louis ranks very low in the activity of startup companies, and just 4 percent of the area’s residents are foreign-born (compared to 12.5 percent in entire U.S.), the St Louis Post-Dispatch reports.
Experts have pointed out how attracting more immigrants could help the local economy develop.
“There are so many things we need to do to be growing our economy, and this is one of the easy ones,” said Richard Herman, a Cleveland, Missouri, attorney, told the news source.
He added, “Cities like ours need to have a voice at the national level and sat that attracting immigrants to our towns needs to be a priority.”
A 2006 study commissioned by the National Venture Capital Association found that about one-quarter of public venture-backed companies in the U.S. were founded by immigrants, including Intel, eBay, Yahoo! and Google.