MEDIA RELEASE
December 7, 2011, Ottawa, ON – In Washington, new legislation was recently introduced to fast-track visas for foreigners spending $500,000 on residential property. This news arrives a year after the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) originally popularized the policy idea in an article published in the Buffalo Daily News by MLI Managing Director Brian Lee Crowley and Dori Segal, Vice Chairman of Equity One Inc.
In the article, Crowley and Segal recommend that the U.S. should immediately offer fast-track immigration to those interested in buying a house for at least $250,000 in cash up front, or an area of 2,500 or more square feet. They should further be required to put another $250,000 cash in a government-insured account with a U.S. financial institution, or spend at least $250,000 cash to create a business in the U.S. employing a minimum of three U.S. citizens. Doing so would bring significant capital to the U.S., inject money directly into the housing market without adding strain to the financial system, and bring some of the best and brightest people to America. New immigrants would also be making a deep commitment to America and ultimately become citizens. Crowley and Segal emphasize that the best part of these recommendations is that “all of these benefits would be at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer.”
Since the October 2010 release of the article, the recommendations have captured the attention of the people of Buffalo who have pressed Senator Charles Schumer hard on this issue. Senator Schumer along with Senator Mike Lee listened and have now introduced this legislation. All of this started from MLI asking Americans to think of new ways to solve current problems.
The Macdonald-Laurier Institute is the only non-partisan, independent national public policy think tank based in Ottawa that focuses on the full range of issues that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
