A Long Jump In Percentage Of Indians Buying Green Cards

The number of Indians getting investment linked EB-5 visas in the US, also known as "cash for a green card", has risen nearly four-fold in the past two years. According to the statistics issued by the US Department of State, 585 such conditional green cards were issued to Indians during the 12-month period ending September 2018, as against 174 in fiscal 2017.

Compared with the allotment of just 149 conditional green cards during fiscal 2016, this reflects a massive increase of 293% over a two-year period. In terms of the number of visas granted, India toppled south Korea and Taiwan to take the third spot behind China and Vietnam in fiscal 2018.

Over the past few years, hundreds of Indians, including those already working in the US have been lining up to apply for EB-5, an investment-linked visa. The wait has borne fruit, going by the huge jump in numbers.

The US Department of State has also released figures of pending applications, as of September 30, 2018. The maximum pending applications were from China at 8180, followed by 1633 applications from India. A proposed hike in investment limits and recent investor scams has made investors more careful, but the interest has not wanted.