AS GUAM waits for some action on its request for parole authority for Chinese visitors, or a visa waiver, there is a program under U.S. immigration law that could bring some well-heeled visitors to the island's shores.

Atty. Minakshi Hemlani, of Fisher & Associates, addressed the Guam Chamber of Commerce yesterday and told her business audience that a program started in 1992 by the U.S. provides investors with a “green card” if they invest in the United States and provide a source of some new investment. 

The minimum foreign nationals must invest to take advantage of the EB-5 program is $1 million, but because of Guam’s increased unemployment, half that amount may be all that is needed to invest in the island.

That’s because Guam may now be considered a “targeted employment area,” or TEA, by the Citizenship and Immigration Service (CIS). The definition of a TEA is “a rural area that has experienced high unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average,” Hemlani said. Guam is considered a single area by CIS, and while in the past it did not qualify as a TEA, it may now.

“I know that in the past, Guam was not a TEA,” the attorney said. But recently, “our unemployment rate has hit 150 percent of the national average, so we are now qualified as a TEA. What this means for investors is instead of having to invest $1 million, they can invest $500,000 on Guam.”

The benefits are that it’s a direct route to a green card, which can put the foreign national on a direct path to citizenship in the U.S.  “Another advantage,” she said, “is that with other categories of U.S. visa there are backlogs, but you don’t have that with the EB-5.”

“Part of this investor program is that the investment has to create 10 local jobs, full-time jobs,” Hemlani said.  If Guam were to start making a pitch for these kinds of investments under this program, it could provide a nice economic stimulus for the island. 

She noted that Gov. Eddie Calvo was just in Taiwan last week, and part of the enthusiastic reception he got might have been interest in the EB-5 program. Taiwan, she said, is one of the top five countries from which investors come into the United States.

Asked whether she knows of any specific effort to target and attract EB-5 investors to Guam, Hemlani said she understands there are at least two applications pending with CIS at the regional center that handles Guam.  She said the Guam government is working through the Guam Economic Development Authority to encourage more foreign investment in Guam.