This is the type of unserious, policy-by-press release we've come to expect from the micromanagers in the U.S. Congress.<p>First of all, housing is still overpriced, in terms of historic trends, in many markets.<p>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.)<p>I wish these guys would come up with better solutions to the banking crisis (yes, it isn't over) than selling U.S. visas.
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!
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.<p>Why do I like it?<p>* Fill vacant homes (as opposed to urban blight)<p>* 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.<p>* In some cases, individuals will be able to rejoin relatives more easily.<p>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.<p>EDIT: formatting
Another terrible idea, in my opinion.<p>When an employee interviews with a company, the company should decide if the employee gets a job, not a visa.<p>When a PhD candidate defends a dissertation, the university should decide if the student gets a degree, not a visa.<p>When an entrepreneur applies for venture capital, the investor should decide if the entrepreneur gets money, not a visa.<p>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<p>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.
This is a horrible idea, the problem is not that houses are too cheap it's that they're too expensive.<p>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.<p>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.
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?
$500K minimum? Anything to breathe life into the higher segment of the US real estate market ;)<p>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.<p>$500K is a bit stiff as a lower limit.
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?
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.
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
$500,000?<p>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.<p>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.
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!
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.<p>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).<p>Still waiting for Congress to do something - anything - for people who aren't millionaires (or indeed, are U.S. citizens).
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.
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.<p>How about we give incentives to people already in this country?<p>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.<p>Disclosure: I'm on the H1B visa. I bought a house last year while the 'first-time home buyer' $8k credit was available.
This is suited not for entrepreneurs, but wealthy retirees from overseas and also parents of rich overseas students who want to be with their children. This is especially if they can show proof of pension income and will not take up work in the U.S..<p>However, the US tax laws aren't particularly friendly to the super rich and wealthy. Once you are deemed resident (I read this from phodgen's blog) then you have to pay tax on all your income.
This is the best solution I've heard so far that kills two birds with one stone. You could create a mini housing bubble thereby solving the unemployment and also offer a legal route for immigration for hard working folks. This should also offer a chance of amnesty for all illegal aliens when they buy a house worth 500,000$. Buy a house and get legal status/amnesty for trespassing into the country.
In case you're looking at this and somehow don't know about <a href="http://startupvisa.com/" rel="nofollow">http://startupvisa.com/</a> , 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.