What Does Immigration Through Investment Really Mean?

After reading an article on yahoo this morning, which can be found at http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/111069/citizenship-for-sale, and more importantly after reading the comments which followed the article, I decided that I must shed some light on the whole situation concerning investors and their road to US citizenship. Let me first start by saying that it is not "easy" to qualify for an investment visa (known as the EB5).  Not only must an individual contribute a large sum of money (not less than $500,000) into the economy, but they must also create a certain number of jobs. What is all the complaining about then?  Isn't that great for our economy? I mean let me lay this out in layman terms:  We get smart, educated people, who have, most likely, worked very hard to earn their money, which by the way they now want to invest into OUR economy AND which will in turn provide more jobs in the  US, which will provide more revenue and income, and thereby creating more taxpaying residents. Considering our economic situation, I say... bring it on, and the more the better. We need smart, savvy business people in our Country.  I would much rather see people of such caliber, who have achieved something and are able to support our economy coming to this country, then those who cross the border and soon or a later will likely become a drain on our economy. 

I truly hope that someday, people will attempt to educate themselves, prior to posting comments which make them look less than knowledgeable and unaware of all the facts. I mean, one person wrote a comment, and I quote  "How about opening up more opportunity for Americans to open businesses...".  Who is stopping him from opening his own business?  It is comments like that which make me, not only angry that someone, who obviously has no idea about... well, anything, has a right to comment on such an important topic, which is obviously out of his league.  Perhaps, prior to being able to post a comment to some serious news article, one should take a short survey to evaluate his overall competency and education level.  Ok, I may be going to far with that, but why should we have to read such garbage? I am all for debates and controversy, but only when there is merit to them.

As an attorney, let me say this to all of those out there who believe that those with money can "buy" citizenship: It is not that easy and it involves a lot of hard work on the part of the individual who is considering investing money into the economy.  Nonetheless, with perseverance, it is doable, and last year we had a just less than 1,000 investor visas approved. I truly hope that we will see an increase in this number in the coming year, as I believe America can only benefit from those people.