In the wake of the recent immigration laws that have come about under U.S. President Donald Trump, private investment firm LCR Capital partners launched its EB-5 Investor Visa Program that assists potential investors in securing a Green Card to study and work in establishments in the United States.
The scheme provides U.S. green cards and permanent residency to an investor and their immediate family through a one-time investment of USSD 500,000 into a new U.S. business that creates 10 or more American jobs.
LCR's clients can avail several benefits such as high approval rates, relatively quick processing times and a competitive return.
Although the new H-1B program has been drafted for the benefit of U.S. citizens, there have been discussions of having as merit-based filter of applications, according to industry experts in the States.
"In the past several years, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services have selected petitions for adjudication on a random basis. The Trump Administration has given some indication it may seek to prioritize the selection of the H-1B petitions for adjudication giving some priority to those petitions reflecting the highest salaries and levels of education," said Charles C. Fostor, Chairman of Fostor Global LLP, an immigration law firm.
"H-1B reform legislation will be considered, but nothing will happen quickly nor without Congressional approval. More numbers are needed and reform as well. With the 65,000 annual cap or limitation plus 20,000 for graduates of U.S. universities with a Master's Degree for fiscal year 2018 commencing October 1, 2017, the rush will soon be on for U.S. employers to file H-1B petitions for the highly skilled we can anticipate more than 250,000 petitions will be filed more or less on day one, April 1, 2017," added Fostor, who has served as the principal advisor to President Bush on U.S. immigration policy and was an advisor on immigration policy issues to President Bush in the 2004 campaign and President Barack Obama in the 2008 campaign.
Speaking on prospective industry expansion in India, Marc Sharpe, MD of LCR Capital Partners stated that with the digitisation wave in India at present, LCR is considering India as the second largest EB-5 investment market.
"We have considered strategic collaborations with Indian firms and investors. We see potential in the 'Make in India' program. We are looking at channelizing funds in the right way, either through collaborations or joint ventures. The fact that the H1-B is a seen as an apparent crisis gives us an opportunity to develop on EB-5," Sharpe told ANI.