Thursday, May 22, 2008

EB-5 Cleveburgh

Pushing immigration reform through Congress is a daunting prospect. Concerning Rust Belt economic development, exploiting existing programs can still yield positive results. Surprisingly, Cleveland is emerging as a leading example of innovative approaches to attracting human capital:

[Vivek] Wadhwa's research indicates that upwards of 1 million highly educated and skilled immigrants are in the United States legally on visas that they hope will lead to green cards and permanent resident status. But because the federal government issues so few green cards each year, many of these people face a decade or more in legal limbo; they can't even change jobs lest they go to the back of the line.

As a result, a lot of these immigrants are becoming frustrated and talking of returning home to places like India or China, where opportunities are exponentially greater than when they left. If they do, many will take back top-shelf educations, business know-how and high-tech patents developed while here. Not to mention a substantial amount of money.

"The U.S. is headed for a massive, reverse brain drain," Wadhwa warns.

But there is a legal way to jump the green card line. The EB-5, or investor visa, program offers foreign nationals a chance to get provisional green cards for themselves and their immediate family members if they invest $500,000 in a high-unemployment area. If those investments create at least 10 jobs for American workers, the green cards become permanent. Under the law, 10,000 green cards a year are available through this program - yet in Fiscal 2007, the agency that administers the program awarded only 803 conditional green cards.

Beginning with a meeting Aggarwahl hosted in Akron during the winter, Wadhwa and the local network have been considering a marketing pitch to immigrants in techheavy areas such as California’s Silicon Valley and metro Boston that would go something like this: Invest in Northeast Ohio. Join a tech scene that’s beginning to attract serious money from venture capitalists and offers access to major universities and first-tier research centers. Tap an array of services, including BioEnterprise and JumpStart, designed to help startups grow to scale. Enjoy an enviable quality of life at a fraction of what you’d pay on either coast. Put your family on the priceless road to American citizenship.

Pittsburgh (I recall seeing the city as one of the listed "regional centers" eligible for the visa program) could do something similar. The State of Vermont is already benefiting. I would think that the Mayor of Braddock (John Fetterman) would be interested. Does Youngstown qualify?

Currently missing from the Cleveland equation is a "champion" dedicated to taking full advantage of the EB-5 visa incentive. This kind of human capital management is the frontier of immigration policy and Rust Belt cities are just beginning to scramble in order to catch up with the geography of talent migration. But I'm wary of the parochial attitudes prevalent in the mega-region. I suggest a Cleveburgh collaboration, an office minding the issues of migration weighing on economic development throughout the corridor.

2 comments:

Mike Frizzi said...

These eb5 investor visa has generated 20,000 jobs, all of which were created by immigrants. I would love to see these factual and undeniable figures brought up when somebody starts speaking negatively about immigration, because they provide concrete evidence as to the benefits this country is enjoying due to the investments of these immigrants. All the money and jobs they have brought in, and they are still not afforded universal respect..

Horace Jones said...

Additionally, I agree that what may help encourage more immigrant investor visa
to be granted is a strong push by companies in the rust belt to open up to accepting these investments. This would also create the jobs that this are needs so desperately. Two birds one stone.