PORTLAND, Maine — The LePage administration is considering a program to help foreign investors get green cards if they invest in projects that create jobs.
The investment program, called EB-5, provides visas to individuals who invest $1 million, or half of that sum in an area with high unemployment.
The Portland Press Herald reports that the administration's interest in the program emerged last week after a group of Chinese investors announced plans to convert a dilapidated shoe factory in Auburn into a health and wellness hotel aligned with Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.
The program was authorized by Congress in 1990 but never successfully implemented in Maine. If the program is implemented, then Maine would be the third state to do so.