Residency-by-investment visas can provide your children with far better opportunities than student visas can. Indian families have increasingly sought international education opportunities for their children through investment migration, also called alternative residency or residency by investment, which allows people to immigrate to another country by investing in it. Until recently, Indians interested in investment migration applied almost unanimously to the American EB-5 visa program, but now European countries like Malta, Portugal, and Greece are attracting attention for their own residency-by-investment programs, many of which are far cheaper than the $800,000 investment that the EB-5 visa requires. Although Portugal has discussed discontinuing its own program, the program is still up and running. The EB-5 in the US, despite its cost, is still very attractive for the educational benefits it offers, largely because investors and their families receive green cards and thus permanent residency. Students with green cards who apply to universities in the US state where they live can get much cheaper in-state tuition. For example, green card holders at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) pay about $30,000 in yearly tuition, whereas holders of student visas must pay full price of up to $70,000 per year. What’s more, green cards make graduating students far more attractive job candidates, since employers do not have to sponsor them for work visas—meaning that a green card means far better employability for investors’ children.
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