The Investor Visa – A Win-Win for Everybody

As it has been reported on quite a few occasions, the US lacks qualified labor in the high-tech industry. This shortage has received considerable exposure in the press and on Capitol Hill, as such industry giants like Intel, Apple and Google all are facing a shortage of labor and struggle to support their future growth (hiring employees away from each other in the process).

A lesser known challenge is the availability of capital to fund small- to mid-sized businesses, in particular, in a US population marked by significant demographic shifts. The Federal government, like many other governments around the world, has long recognized the necessity to bolster the inflow of foreign capital to stimulate the economy and to provide an ever increasing qualified labor and investor pool. For that purpose, the US government has established “investor visa” programs under which foreign investors can obtain an investor visa for the USA by investing a certain amount of money in the economy.

Although such investor visas for the USA have been viewed with a significant amount of mistrust, and often described as “unsocial,” the reality is that such visas allow individuals with significant wealth to purchase companies or to make other significant investments, such as real estate, thereby generating new job opportunities or at the very least sustaining continued employment in the economy.

“Quite often we see inquiries from investors out of the Far East or India inquiring about specific businesses for sale,” says Achim Neumann, President, A Neumann & Associates, an M&A and business brokerage firm, located in New Jersey. ”As a matter of fact, quite a few businesses would remain unsold if it were not for such foreign investment.”

This investment not only allows such businesses to continue to exist – and thus to provide continued employment to its employees — but often, such initial investment is followed by further investment, continued expansion, and even more employment opportunities.

Another aspect in transferring a business under investor visas for the USA is that often, foreign investors are particularly motivated to ”put in long hours” and ”take the extra step” to succeed. This is of particular importance to businesses that might have been marginal prior to its transfer from the original owner.  And it’s this drive to succeed in an unknown environment that often allows investors raise these small businesses to new heights.

For example, the (franchised) hotel industry and the small retail environment – often not considered ”desirable” industries among domestic investors – have seen significant inflow of capital from foreign investors.  Many of these small businesses are now flourishing under such new ownership.

Currently, the Federal government offers three distinct different visa programs:

• The E-2 Investor Visa
• The E-3 Investor Visa
• The EB-5 Investor Visa

All of these investor visas for the USA allow investors to contribute to the growth of the economy and to enjoy the benefits of living in the US.

“We have established various working relationships with leading immigration attorneys,” says Neumann, “which will allow us to expand our service spectrum from previously providing lending, taxation, and legal references to now include references to immigration attorneys – in essence to broaden our full service spectrum even further.”

###

About A. Neumann & Associates, LLC

A Neumann & Associates, LLC is a professional merger & acquisition and business brokerage firm with 30 years of experience in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia that assists business owners and investors in the business transfer process in a completely confidential manner. The company covers the entire Northeast US market, has representations from NY state to VA state, and has access to a 50 office national network of qualified investors and sellers. For more information, please contact A Neumann & Associates at 732-872-6777.