Silvercard for OAPs wanting to live in the US...

[britty 1]

It will save a lot of time petitioning for parents

WASHINGTON — John Mike, a real estate agent in Wellington, Fla., sees a vast untapped source of wealth that could boost the sagging U.S. housing market: foreign citizens.

More precisely — older foreign citizens.

Thousands of residents from other nations — including England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Israel, Greece, Italy and Germany — are clamoring to retire in the United States, but can't get visas, Mike said.

Real estate agents across the country are now pushing for a visa that would allow foreign citizens to retire in America.

They call it a "silver card" as opposed to a "green card." Proponents say it would allow foreigners to purchase homes, cars and many other goods and services, stimulating the troubled economy.

"Millions of dollars would get spent in this country. It would be a boon to the U.S. economy — to real estate, people buying properties, the automobile industry, the restaurant industry, retail, airline travel, furniture makers, there are so many dimensions," said Mike, chairman of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches.

The concept has been the subject of debate at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), a trade group with more than 1.2 million members that has yet to endorse such a proposal.

Mary Trupo, a spokeswoman for NAR, said that the organization is having "a great deal of dialogue" on the idea of a silver visa and has formed a presidential advisory group to study it further.

"It is high on our radar screen and we are looking at all the implications," she said.

Mike said that many NAR members like the silver card idea but are afraid to jump into the highly charged debate over immigration, especially during an election year.

The silver card would provide legal residence in the United States, but not citizenship. Applicants would have to pass a security background check and would not be allowed to work in the United States, Mike said.

Legislation to create a silver card would generate opposition from both sides of the immigration debate, said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank in Washington.

"The anti-immigrant types" would argue that U.S. visas should not be for sale and that older foreigners would pose a burden on health care and social services and could even try to work here illegally, he said.

Immigrant advocates, meanwhile, would say that wealthy foreigners should not get special treatment when thousands of others — including relatives of U.S. citizens — are waiting for visas, he added.

The health care issue could be the biggest roadblock for such legislation, experts said.

"The idea that you could admit lots of old people and somehow not create social costs, especially health care costs, is a fantasy," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates lower levels of immigration.

"The vast majority of health care costs come in the last few years, even few months of life."

Mike said that this problem could be solved by requiring the silver card holders to have their own insurance and barring them from using Medicare. They could also be required to get supplemental coverage when they are in the United States.

However, Papademetriou said that foreign citizens who let their insurance premiums lapse are still going to end up at emergency rooms.

In addition, he said that proponents of the silver card should consider an easier way to accomplish their goal, to push for changes in tourists visas that would allow foreign citizens to stay for eight or nine months out of the year.

Krikorian also said that the goal of U.S. immigration policy is not to sell more real estate, but to bring people into the fabric of American life.

"Taking people in from abroad to live here is supposed to create new Americans," he said. "That's not what this (silver card) program would do."

Meanwhile, thousands of American citizens spend much of their retirement in other countries — such as Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama — where they are welcomed with open arms.

Other nations have built entire communities to accommodate U.S. retirees, including stacking grocery shelves with American food brands and offering satellite dishes to provide English language TV.

Panama, for example, offers two visas that specifically target retirees, according to a 2006 report by the Migration Policy Institute that examined the issue.

One — called the "pensionado" — allows retirees to remain in the country indefinitely and another — called the "rentista" — must be renewed every 5 years. The latter requires foreigners to place a large amount of money in a five-year certificate of deposit at the National Bank of Panama in order to yield at least $750 in interest per month.

David Warner, a University of Texas public affairs professor who has studied the phenomenon, estimates that several hundred thousand Americans over 60 are currently retired in Mexico.

He said that the American retirees are not required to have health insurance but that most have Medicare back in the United States.

Warner also said that he didn't see too much of a problem with allowing foreign citizens to retire in the United States, but that "it would probably make sense to require health insurance in the U.S. and long term care insurance as well."

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

Another reason why stupid ideas and absence of gray matter clogs the immigration process in this country,

I hope things change with good old mighty USCIS in the upcoming years because immigration reform is needed...bad

If NM, AZ etc can promote their states and their retirement communities, why not advertise this country as well? I'm pretty sure old folks from Finland won't mind moving over to Boca Raton for a couple of months during the summer and bring along their tasty (and SO needed) Euros.

Edited November 20, 2008 by TävôLuDô

[Ban Hammer 14,056]

will they be eligible for social security and medicare?

[msu17 0]

Oh no! This will make it so much easier for my inlaws to move here.... Shudder. I think we'd go move to Australia or something if it went through

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

Oh no! This will make it so much easier for my inlaws to move here.... Shudder. I think we'd go move to Australia or something if it went through

I'm telling your spouse pal

jk

Edited November 20, 2008 by TävôLuDô

[britty 1]

will they be eligible for social security and medicare?

No Charles they won't. they will need to prove that they have comprehensive medical insurance in place and will not be allowed any government assistance. For those over 70 that can afford it, this is a really good opportunity, it would probably mean an upturn in Florida's housing market, and would provide some much needed economy activity.