Buying Immigrant Visas

There was a story today on something entirely different than immigrant visas, that points out how Russian immigrants are allowed to remain in the UK.  They buy $2.8 million in UK bonds and they get a long-term visa that allows them to live there as residents.  This seems like a good deal, if you have that much money in the bank.

I have been complaining for years about the same kind of program in the US, the EB-5 Visa program.  I think that is worse, because it gives a person a quick path to citizenship and allows them to contribute to political parties as if they were US citizens.  That is authorizing political meddling in all kinds of local politicians’ elections.  The Chinese even admitted that they take advantage of it.  Ninety percent of all EB-5 Visas are Chinese.

Is this what democracies have become?  We allow foreign individuals to buy their way into our countries?  Citizenship for hire.  For all those people who came to the US and UK and waited for the time to pass until they could apply for citizenship, then applied and waited longer, we are sorry you are poor.  Chinese and Russian rich people get to cut to the head of that line, cheapening the whole process for everyone else.