Sacramento Region Sees EB-5 Program as a Job Creator

Base Closure turned Business Park creates 15,000 Jobs from an $18 Million EB-5 Deal

Excerpts from the Sacramento Bee Article of March 2011:

“McClellan Air Force Base lost 12,000 jobs when it closed in 2001 along with 29 other California military bases. Today 15,000 people work at McClellan Business Park, a residential and industrial development, thanks partly to $18 million invested by 36 immigrants looking for a quick path to U.S. residency.”

“The U.S. government is high on EB5 as a way to jump-start depressed areas. In the last four years about 4,000 immigrants have invested $2 billion in the United States, resulting in about 40,000 jobs.”

“Any immigrant without a criminal record can apply, as long as they make a $1 million investment – or $500,000 in areas where unemployment is 150 percent of the national average.”

“California Military Bases, the regional center that recruited investors to McClellan Business Park, has signed up more than 400 foreigners who have invested more than $212 million and helped create more than 6,000 jobs, said founder Pat Hogan.”

“The Americans who have benefited from the program include Dennis Rodriguez. Rodriguez, 51, had been out of work 14 months before he found a job at McClellan Business Park. He now earns $19 an hour as a welder for Polar Service Centers, a tanker-truck company that ships chemicals, cement and other products. “We’re a Cinderella story,” Rodriguez said.”

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/03/20/3487280/millionaire-visas-seen-as-job.html#ixzz1SyDmTRgM