US Visa Investment scheme launched in Ghana

The Atlantic American Partners (AAP) on Tuesday launched the United States (US) Federal Government EB-5 Investor Visa scheme in Ghana to both ease the migration processes of potential investors and refund of investment later.

The investment scheme is a foreign investor programme that allows potential investors or prospects an opportunity to invest in the US economy along with other numerous benefits including living and working in the US, getting access to the public-school system and social security, among others.

The EB-5 Visa also provides permanent residence (green card) to the potential investor, spouse and any dependent children under the age of 21, making the investor a citizen of the U.S. to sponsor other family members for a green card.

Under the new Visa Scheme in US, the Potential investor stand the chance of getting a refund of their lump investment sum, thus 500,000 US dollar, and two per cent annual interest if all conditions are met by AAP EB-5 and without taking off the privileges that came with the scheme.

In an interaction with the media, Mr Daniel Ryan, the Managing Director of Emerging Markets-Africa under the AAP, said “the EB-5 Investor Visa programme is a real investment scheme with a strong backing by the U.S. Federal Government”.

He said the investment scheme has been in existence for almost ten years on the continent, and that it had helped more than six hundred families through the scheme.

“The EB-5 Investor Visa requires making a 500,000 US dollar investment in a US - based business or real estate project that results in the creation of 10 permanent jobs for U.S. residents,” he added.

Mr Ryan said the process involve in getting the green card under the investment scheme was a two-part process, which he explained that “Once the investment is made and the initial application called 1-526 has been submitted, it takes about 18 – 24 months for approval”.

At this point, he said a conditional green card is issued, providing all of the benefits of a full green card, until job creation was proven, adding that 21 months later, the applicant could file the second part of the application called 1-829.

Upon approval of the 1-829, the conditional status would be converted to a permanent green card, noting that whole process should take about five years.

Mr Ryan said the AAP commenced operations in Africa, first with Johannesburg, South Africa, where it recorded four hundred applications, a higher figure than their projected one hundred applications.

Next was Kenya, where they recorded two hundred applications, and projected to receive more than one hundred applications from Ghana.

Throwing more lights on the Ghanaian target, he noted there were more potentials in Ghana for development and urged Ghanaians to prioritise governance to unleash all the potentials inhibited in the country.

The AAP is part of a 45-year old investment banking firm that had been involved in excess of 40 billion US dollars private equity investment in a variety of industries and fields.