VOA慢速英語(yǔ):Wealthy Foreigners Buy Their Way to US Citizenship

From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.

這里是美國(guó)之音慢速英語(yǔ)經(jīng)濟(jì)報(bào)道。

What do these four things have in common: a proposed wind farm in the American state of Washington, a gold mine in Idaho, a new casino in Las Vegas and ski resort expansions in Vermont. They're all investment vehicles for wealthy foreigners seeking green cards to live in the United States.

這四件事有什么共同點(diǎn)：美國(guó)華盛頓州擬建的風(fēng)力發(fā)電場(chǎng)，愛達(dá)荷州的金礦，拉斯維加斯的一家新賭場(chǎng)和佛蒙特州滑雪勝地的擴(kuò)張。它們都是外國(guó)富人謀求到美國(guó)生活的投資工具。

Under American law, foreigners can get such recess if they invest at least 500,000 dollars to create at least 10 jobs in the country. Here is an example of how the program works.

根據(jù)美國(guó)法律，外國(guó)人在美國(guó)投資50萬(wàn)美元并創(chuàng)造至少10個(gè)就業(yè)崗位，就能在美國(guó)居留。以下就是該計(jì)劃如何運(yùn)作的一個(gè)例子。

A few years ago, Jordan Gagner and his wife needed to move from their home in Canada to a drier climate, like Arizona. At first, the possibility of moving south of the border permanently seemed unlikely.

幾年前，喬丹·岡納(Jordan Gagner)和他的妻子需要從加拿大搬到一個(gè)少雨的地方，像亞利桑那州(注：該州位于美國(guó)南方邊境)。起初，永久性搬到美國(guó)南方邊境的可能性似乎不大。

"Being a self-employed wealth manager and a teacher, those are two occupations that are not on the top 10 lists of visas being given to foreigners to come down to the U.S."

他說(shuō)，“作為一名個(gè)體理財(cái)經(jīng)理和教師，這兩個(gè)職業(yè)都不在提供給外國(guó)人來(lái)美簽證前10名的名單上。”

But then he heard about the immigrant investor visa. He and several other foreign investors offered $500,000 each to build an assisted living center in Bellingham, Washington. Mr Gagner was credited with creating lots of jobs during the recession and his whole family received green cards.

但隨后他聽說(shuō)了投資移民簽證。他和一些外國(guó)投資者每人投了50萬(wàn)美元，在華盛頓州貝靈漢市建立了一家養(yǎng)老院。岡納先生由于在經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退期間創(chuàng)造了大量就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)獲得好評(píng)，他全家都獲得了美國(guó)綠卡。

Immigration lawyer David Andersson organized the deal.

移民律師大衛(wèi)·安德森(David Andersson)經(jīng)手了這起案子。

"If you have a solid investment and there may be a benefit which exceeds mere return, such as the ability to move your family to America, then an investor may consider a lower return than, for example, a bank."

他說(shuō)，如果你有一項(xiàng)可靠的投資，收益有可能超過單純的回報(bào)，例如有能力全家移民到美國(guó)。那么投資者可能會(huì)考慮低于銀行的回報(bào)。”

Mr Andersson has led the way in an industry he says is growing quickly. Companies that bringing together investors and possible borrowers are officially known as "EB-5 regional centers." The name comes from the part of the immigration law that send up the immigrant investor visa.

安德森先生在他所言的一個(gè)正迅猛增長(zhǎng)的行業(yè)里遙遙領(lǐng)先。為投資者和潛在借款人牽線搭橋的公司被稱為投資移民區(qū)域項(xiàng)目中心(EB-5 regional centers)。這個(gè)名字來(lái)源于發(fā)出投資移民簽證的移民法的某部分內(nèi)容。

Some Americans have expressed concerns about the program. Landowner Harland Radomske first heard about it when a group of wealthy Koreans were invited to invest in a wind farm on land next to his property. He feared a wind farm would reduce the value of his ranch, and there was more.

一些美國(guó)人已經(jīng)對(duì)該計(jì)劃表達(dá)了擔(dān)憂。農(nóng)場(chǎng)主哈蘭德·羅德姆斯克(Harland Radomske)初次聽到該計(jì)劃時(shí)，是一群韓國(guó)富人被邀請(qǐng)投資鄰近他農(nóng)場(chǎng)的一處陸上風(fēng)力發(fā)電場(chǎng)。他擔(dān)心風(fēng)力發(fā)電場(chǎng)會(huì)使他家農(nóng)場(chǎng)貶值，當(dāng)然還不止這些。

"We have all of this controversy going over immigration, the borders of Mexico, and all of that issues before the Congress and Senate and so on. And now we find out unbeknownst, if you're a rich foreigner, you can buy your way to citizenship."

他說(shuō)，“我們就移民、墨西哥邊境等問題鬧到了美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)和參議院。而現(xiàn)在我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果你是外國(guó)富人，你就能買到美國(guó)國(guó)籍。”

The wind project developers refused many requests to tell the side of the story. Yet, even with the disputes over immigration, the foreign investor program has a lot of support in Congress. There is also a move to make the program permanent.

風(fēng)電項(xiàng)目開發(fā)商拒絕了講述這件事另一面的很多要求。然而，即使移民爭(zhēng)議不斷，外國(guó)投資者計(jì)劃在國(guó)會(huì)卻獲得了廣泛支持。并且還有活動(dòng)要使該計(jì)劃永久化。