Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/20/8413642-buy-a-home-get-a-us-visa-senators-propose

by pitdesi • 15 years ago

107 119 15 years ago

bottomline.msnbc.msn.com

lr• 15 years ago

Agree with this or not, this is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking members of Congress need to be doing.

onemoreact• 15 years ago

There are several programs that let you 'buy' a Visa and adding another one for the low low price of '$500,000 to buy a home in the U.S.' is not going to do much for immigration or home prices.

sixtofour• 15 years ago

The $500,000 floor seems to be a benefit for people who have $500,000 houses to sell. Doesn't do much for Joe Sixpack while he's deciding whether to stick or walk away.

blinkingled• 15 years ago

It's a VISA - not Permanent Residence. When people invest in a residence for a VISA, they generally do so to settle down. So I am not sure how safe the potential home buyers are going to feel investing $500K in a house with the risk that their VISA renewal or entry to the US can be denied 3 years down the road.

Current climate is just not very conducive to hope that something like this will fly.

nobody31415910• 15 years ago

They don't even have to change anything - a VISA isn't a guarranteed right of entry.

You just need minimum wage guy at the airport desk to not like your face and you don't get in - no matter how many VISAs you have in your passport. You can of course try and correct the problem from the other country after you have been denied entry - if you can get an airline to carry you.

dalke2• 15 years ago

Naah. Giving sweet-heart deals to people with a lot of money isn't out-of-the-box thinking - it's older than the hills. Out-of-box thinking would include enforcing consumer protection laws, strong oversight of large businesses, and progressive taxes. That sort of thinking hasn't been so common over the last few decades.

CWuestefeld• 15 years ago

I think you've been caught up by the current mass hysteria, and forgotten to look for the reality:

enforcing consumer protection laws

See FTC's web site for news [1] like yesterday's "FTC Stops Nationwide Federal Jobs Scam".

strong oversight of large businesses

How about the DOJ suing to stop AT&T from acquiring T-Mobile? How about the absurd suit against Boeing for wanting to build a factory in a state where they don't have to worry about unions?

progressive taxes

The tax rates vary from 10% up to 35%, as you go up the income scale [2]. So, there are your progressive taxes.

[1] http://www.ftc.gov/opa/index.shtml

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States...

njharman• 15 years ago

Buying citizenship / visa is long standing practice. Government subsidising, bailing out industries is long standing practice.

This routine, far from out of the box.

peacemaker• 15 years ago

$500,000 to get a visa? Seems to me like Congress is still catering to the rich.

adestefan2• 15 years ago

They already do that with the EB-5 visa. Invest at least $1,000,000 (or $500,000) and keep 10 jobs in the US and you can live here.

AlexC04• 15 years ago

The E-2 can be had for as little as $100,000

http://www.h1base.com/visa/work/Compare%20work%20Visas/ref/1...

fourmii• 15 years ago

They're just trying to increase the 1%...

keeptrying• 15 years ago

Which other country does this? I think just lessens the appeal of an usa visa and the USA in general.

ComputerGuru2• 15 years ago

Pretty much all of them. Most countries in the world have "investor visas" which let you buy your way into the country.

yummyfajitas2• 15 years ago

I don't understand - what problem is this supposed to solve?

adestefan2• 15 years ago

People that have $500,000+ houses that they need to sell.

parfe• 15 years ago

Banks, not people.

hugh37• 15 years ago

America has too many poor people, and not enough rich people.

And it's easier (and more legal) to import rich people than to kick the poor people out.

It makes sense that the countries of the world should be competing for the most talented people. And being rich is the best proxy for being talented that we have.

pitdesi• 15 years ago

In case you're looking at this and somehow don't know about http://startupvisa.com/ , take a look and offer your support if so inclined. It would allow non-US entrepreneurs with funding from a US investor to get a visa to start a company. StartupVisa would be wayyy more beneficial than the housing thing... get folks to contribute to society, hire local workers, etc. Those local workers then can in turn buy homes, etc.

nobody31415910• 15 years ago

Trouble is that it must be from a US investor.

So it's the same slave labor problem as H1B. If you don't like anything the investor suggests after you have moved then he withdraws the funding and you get deported.

Can we think of how a good capitalist VC might use that to their advantage?

untog• 15 years ago

I think you're overstating the issue. I am in the US in an H1B visa and am in no way 'slave labor'. But I can't start my own company- the Startup Visa would finally solve that issue.

geori• 15 years ago

Incentives that rewarded home ownership got us in this quagmire. I hate lobbyists.

jellicle• 15 years ago

The only beneficiaries I can think of for this program would be rich capitalists from China and the Middle East who are exporting their gains and sinking them into foreign property already, and who would now get a fast-track for immigration as well.

I guess Congress would like to get campaign contributions from these people (once you have a green card, you can legally make political contributions to U.S. politicians).

Still waiting for Congress to do something - anything - for people who aren't millionaires (or indeed, are U.S. citizens).

andreshb• 15 years ago

I don't see a problem in these being the only beneficiaries, right now, they are already getting EB5 visas if they invest in a business. This approach would be similar, except with the added benefit of solving the issue (or at least help) of the housing market. I think this is a really creative approach.

mixmastamyk• 15 years ago

The problem with housing is that it is too expensive for the common man. Propping up prices artificially is not a solution.

127001brewer• 15 years ago

"The only beneficiaries I can think of for this program would be rich capitalists from China and the Middle East ..."

Actually, Canadians are largest percentage of foreigners buying homes in the U.S. at 23%.[1]

[1] Canadians Warm to Phoenix, Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020401060457659...

MiguelHudnandez• 15 years ago

They would extend the offer only to those that spend half a million dollars on a home. I have a feeling that excludes most of the Canadians bargain hunting for property in Phoenix.

prostoalex• 15 years ago

Not like they don't have any other choice if this proposal doesn't pass, if you look at immigration patterns to Vancouver and Toronto.

This would just put US in competitive position with other countries catering to these customers. Potential visa troubles are a non-trivial deal-blocker for many.

mcrider• 15 years ago

Are you referring to business class immigration? In Canada, its $800k, and you don't get a house ([http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/business/index.asp]). But yeah, point.

rhizome2• 15 years ago

Think of it this way: Schumer is (partially) owned by the finance industry.

hugh37• 15 years ago

This doesn't do that much for the finance industry since it has to be a cash purchase.

Still, I guess it'd drive prices up somewhat. The effect couldn't be huge, though... there's not that many foreigners with half a million bucks cash who want to leave their home countries and reside in the US.

On the other hand, given a choice of all possible immigrants, I don't think there's any problem with the US moving "those with half a million bucks" to the top of the list.

hugh37• 15 years ago

They're not the only beneficiaries. I can think of a few moderately-wealthy foreign-born H1Bs (and equivalent) living in Northern California who might have half a million spare and wouldn't mind buying a $500K house and getting a free greencard if it'd save them the trouble of going through the usual immigration process. Picking, just as a random example, say, me.

I'm not even sure whether I want to remain in the US long term, but if offered a free greencard I'd say yes.

trevelyan• 15 years ago

The direct beneficiaries are American homeowners, who get higher prices for overvalued assets and financial institutions holding housing as collateral. The losers are lower-income Americans (often also recent immigrants) for whom the cost of housing remains out of reach.

nobody31415910• 15 years ago

You're forgetting people in with houses to offload and banks with foreclosed $1M homes that they might want to make 50% return on.

shareme• 15 years ago

okay Senate for sale business as usual..nothing to see here

sgt• 15 years ago

Too bad it must be at least $500,000. The first that came to mind was to buy a derelict house in Detroit somewhere, and then automatically getting a US visa!

99992• 15 years ago

Give me your energetic, your rich, Your striding elite yearning to oppress, The vaunted gild of your desolate shore. Send these, the landowners, first-class-turbulence-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the door for those with gold!

pjscott3• 15 years ago

What would you prefer?

nobody31415910• 15 years ago

New science, engineering, medical graduates who have just finished a US degree/masters/PhD?

temphn2• 15 years ago

America is broke. If you want to tax the rich you need to let them into the country. And people buying a house aren't that rich anyway. Besides, this is very similar to the immigration policy of Canada or Singapore, which also give points if you buy property and start a business in the country. Their economies are vastly outperforming ours and it might be worth emulating them.

OstiaAntica3• 15 years ago

Even with the current slowdown, U.S. per capita GDP is much higher than Canada's. Singapore, as an island city-state, isn't really comparable to the U.S. It is more like Manhattan, and the government in Singapore can implement fairly heavy-handed policies that are not feasible on a continental US-scale.

yummyfajitas2• 15 years ago

Although Singapore is outperforming our economy (on a per-capita basis), Canada is not. Why do you believe emulating them will get us Singapore-like benefits rather than Canada-like harms?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_...

Cushman• 15 years ago

The Fed is broke. America is as rich as ever.

We were taxing the rich progressively for decades and doing great as a country. The past decade has been great for the rich, but horrible for the country. The number one factor preventing investment today is not taxes, but lack of confidence brought about by a crippled economy brought about by haphazardly lowered taxes.

How Congress managed to convince us this is a moral issue instead of one of straightforward math I'll never understand.

cbs• 15 years ago

$500,000?

The number of people for whom visas are the only barrier to buying a home in the USA and would spend over 500k on one is probably way too small to have any real impact on the housing market.

Why not $5k? There are plenty of houses going for dirt cheap in the parts of the country hit the worst by the recession. It would mean more people taking advantage of the program and selling that cheap housing would have more of an impact on the housing market and overall economy.

ComputerGuru2• 15 years ago

Because they clearly don't want immigrants from the bottom of the socioeconomic status of other countries.

wisty• 15 years ago

And they don't want immigrants buying a $5,000 house, then abandoning it to rent a closet in California.

IgorPartola3• 15 years ago

Instead, they should automatically offer work visas to college graduates. It is such a pain to have to get a work visa after you graduate if you were on an F1 before then. And most people that come all the way to the US to go to college are top notch professionals by the time they graduate.

nobody31415910• 15 years ago

But many of those graduates will be in law or medicine so having more of them in the country will lower the wages in those professions

And many of the others are scientists and engineers - people who often believe in evolution.

nobody31415910• 15 years ago

Tell me - does Irony just mean "made of Iron" here?

amritsharma2• 15 years ago

I was on F1. I think offering work visa to all graduates could not be justified for the US economy. This would just increase the number of applicants for all the jobs. Even as of now, there's more supply than demand for jobs. Although, you're right it would make life so much easier for the international students.

They could offer fast green card processing to those already working (H1B) in this country who buy a house worth $150k+.

Good luck.

IgorPartola3• 15 years ago

Thanks for the reply. Just to clarify, I am not an international student, and never was, but I had a number of friends in college that I think would literally be an asset to this country that went back to their respective countries of origin. Now, they had reasons other than the visa issues, but I do wonder how it would have turned out if they were offered the option to stay.

Yes, this flood the job market with more non-Americans who are competing for the same jobs. However, we are currently giving out green cards on the basis of a lottery and not really doing anything to prefer any category of job over another when making immigration decisions. Using a proven population to diversify America would be much better than blindly giving out green cards in a lottery. Another strategy would be to not just automatically hand everyone an H1B, but instead simply make the process much easier. Or prefer some industries over others. Or institute a quota and a lottery for just the pool of interested college grads. Possibilities are endless.

tps• 15 years ago

Do they realize that there is a sizable number of US citizens living in the country that would like to buy a home and can afford one but due to the still artificially inflated prices in some areas of the country that can be attributed to low rates and the backlog of REO homes are choosing not to buy yet?

coreyo• 15 years ago

Do you see VCs loaning $$ to entreprenuers to buy a home in the US for a visa?

ck2• 15 years ago

How about hire 100 US workers for a year, get a free home.

FilterJoe2• 15 years ago

I'll go out on a limb here and say I like the basic idea. One major detail I would change is to make it a $100,000 or $50,000 minimum instead of $500,000. There are many parts of the country where it's hard to even find a house that's as expensive as $250,000. I'd like something like this to be open to all parts of the country and I'd like it to be open to middle class as well, not just wealthy people.

Why do I like it?

* Fill vacant homes (as opposed to urban blight)

* There are many indirect economic benefits like money spent fixing homes, all the day to day purchasing that will be done by the new residents, etc.

* In some cases, individuals will be able to rejoin relatives more easily.

The urban blight thing is the one I care about most. I live in the East Bay of California and have seen certain neighborhoods totally fall apart as dozens of vacant homes attracted vandalism, drugs, and other forms of crime and caused remaining residents hardship.

EDIT: formatting

juiceandjuice• 15 years ago

Well, the places where it's super hard to find a house at 500k, and somewhat easy at 100k, are the border states... New Mexico, Arizona, Texas (and Nevada). In these places, the 500k house is going to be the cream of the crop... the top 1%. Southern California is a different issue, but this isn't going to help the places where the housing market really took a shit, like Nevada and Arizona, because the market there is saturated with foreclosures of homes that might have originally sold for 500k but are probably worth half that much in the current market. The poisonous idea is that these homes were actually worth that much money, but they never were. The artificial demand of the sub-prime mortgage crisis pushed prices up where they should never had been. The 500k limit would try to, again, artificially inflate the worth of the house by stimulated demand in the highest priced homes, homes which should probably sell closer to 350, because the 150k premium might be worth it for some families to get a visa. The second problem with this thinking is that anyone who qualifies for a 500k house would likely be rich enough to get a visa in the US anyways as an investor.

A lower limit of 150k would be reasonable for boosting the middle class, and actually helping the housing market, but that's obviously not the goal.

mbreese2• 15 years ago

I agree, it would be difficult to find a house in Indiana for 500K... Perhaps the metric should be based on median home prices..

rprospero• 15 years ago

You're assuming that the people will live in the homes that they buy. They could just as easily spend $50,000 on a shack in Detroit, let it continue to decay, and just live in an apartment in Palo Alto.

Of course, I guess that loophole could be closed in the legislation, but every patch I can think of for closing it has its own loopholes.

FilterJoe2• 15 years ago

If I were the author of such legislation I would do everything I could to require that the person actually live in the house. Possibly even including (as a condition of the program) unscheduled visits to the house to see if they're really living there. But it could be that the authors' intent is different than mine. I'd like to slow down (or better yet reverse) urban blight, first and foremost.

Given the 500k/250k amount, one might suspect that propping up home prices in the mid to upper part of the market is the intent.

gopi• 15 years ago

I am not sure why many people are upset that this will attract the rich foreigners. Whats wrong with rich people moving in?. Think how much new tax revenue the country will gain if 10000 millionaires move every year

nobody31415910• 15 years ago

Very little - millionaires tend not to pay much tax. Especially foreign ones whose income is difficult to trace.

What happened in Vancouver when Canada did the same thing is that people bought the houses as an insurance so they had an escape route if Honk Kong went bad. Most of the houses either sat empty, were rented out, or the kid was dumped there to go to college.

It did a lot for the local housing market - not clear it did quite so much for local entrepreneurial growth.

erikj54• 15 years ago

That's true in partial. Vancouver has some interesting experiences with foreign capital investing in the housing market. It makes for a very expensive city. If the aim of this is to boost the price of the housing market, then I think this measure will do that. Whether or not that is a good thing is an entirely different issue.

harichinnan• 15 years ago

This is the best solution I've heard so far that kills two birds with one stone. You could create a mini housing bubble thereby solving the unemployment and also offer a legal route for immigration for hard working folks. This should also offer a chance of amnesty for all illegal aliens when they buy a house worth 500,000$. Buy a house and get legal status/amnesty for trespassing into the country.

smattiso• 15 years ago

We have to stop spending so much time/energy/money on trying to prop up housing prices. The valuations were clearly in a bubble. Now that the prices are more grounded in reality how about letting supply and demand dictate the prices?

0x12• 15 years ago

$500K minimum? Anything to breathe life into the higher segment of the US real estate market ;)

Kidding aside, are they also going to retro-actively award visas to all those that already own their own homes and do not currently have their paperwork in order? That would be a very quick way to solve another issue that was on the front page earlier today.

$500K is a bit stiff as a lower limit.

alex_c2• 15 years ago

“Applicants can spend the entire amount on one house or spend as little as $250,000 on a residence and invest the rest in other residential real estate, which can be rented out,” the paper added.

alex_c2• 15 years ago

I'm not convinced how effective this will be. The parts in the US where housing prices took the largest hit are also the parts where a foreigner with access to USD$500,000 is least likely to want to go in the first place.

kreek• 15 years ago

This is a horrible idea, the problem is not that houses are too cheap it's that they're too expensive.

A better idea would be to relax visa standards for starting a business that hires x number of americans. Those employees would have a far bigger impact on the economy as a whole as the majority of their income would be pumped right back in for basic necessities.

Once they start a business here, guess what? They'll need somewhere to live and since they're rich they can still buy that $500k+ house.

OstiaAntica3• 15 years ago

This is the type of unserious, policy-by-press release we've come to expect from the micromanagers in the U.S. Congress.

First of all, housing is still overpriced, in terms of historic trends, in many markets.

Second, this is yet another program for ICE, which cannot manage its current immigration visa portfolio. This idea seems particularly open to abuse, since the home could be bought with borrowed money. (Sure it has to be "cash" investment but there's an asset here, you could easily cash out or have straw buyers.)

I wish these guys would come up with better solutions to the banking crisis (yes, it isn't over) than selling U.S. visas.

daniel-cussen• 15 years ago

We already sell/monetize US visas. You have to invest a few hundred thousand in a US-based business and you get a Visa. I believe the amount is 500,000.

desigooner• 15 years ago

Doesn't this Visa mandate that the person cannot work on this visa and it's just for stay?!

Alex3917• 15 years ago

It's amazing these people can get away with claiming they don't get what OWS is about with a straight face.

amritsharma2• 15 years ago

I'm not sure who will take "advantage" of this program - - $500,000 CASH investment - You get a 'resident visa', so you can not work here Source: WSJ.

How about we give incentives to people already in this country?

I propose: You get priority processing on your green card application if you buy a house worth more than $150k, and you can't sell for at least 3-5 years.

Disclosure: I'm on the H1B visa. I bought a house last year while the 'first-time home buyer' $8k credit was available.

geebee• 15 years ago

Another terrible idea, in my opinion.

When an employee interviews with a company, the company should decide if the employee gets a job, not a visa.

When a PhD candidate defends a dissertation, the university should decide if the student gets a degree, not a visa.

When an entrepreneur applies for venture capital, the investor should decide if the entrepreneur gets money, not a visa.

And yes, when a buyer makes an offer on a house, the seller should decide whether the buyer will get the house, not a visa

None of these people should control whether a person gets to reside in the united states, and giving them this power is an invitation to government sponsored abuse.

teyc• 15 years ago

This is suited not for entrepreneurs, but wealthy retirees from overseas and also parents of rich overseas students who want to be with their children. This is especially if they can show proof of pension income and will not take up work in the U.S..

However, the US tax laws aren't particularly friendly to the super rich and wealthy. Once you are deemed resident (I read this from phodgen's blog) then you have to pay tax on all your income.

recursive• 15 years ago

It's not buy a home, it's spend half a mill. That gets about 4 homes 'round these parts.

Buy a home, get a US visa, Senators propose

Related Stories