Illustration: Lu Ting/GT

In a recent opinion piece published in The New York Times, Sheldon Adelson, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates called on the US government to reform its EB-5 immigrant investor scheme and provide permanent residency to those who can revive growth in the American economy.

The EB-5 program, which was created by the US Congress in 1990, is designed to offer 10,000 foreign nationals per year a path to citizenship, provided they invest at least $500,000 in the country and create no less than 10 job opportunities. But with the program set to expire in 2015, many now fear that the US is about to close an important avenue for investment and job creation.

Continued economic growth in the US depends in no small part on immigrant investors. As the three renowned businessmen mentioned in their article, the program "should be reformed to prevent abuse but also expanded to become more effective." These remarks take on an extra ring of truth when one compares the general waning of US business activity against contributions made to the country by foreign investors.

A study conducted by the Brookings Institution in May found that business dynamism in the US is wavering. During the last few decades, new firm formations have been on a persistent decline. During 1978, 15 percent of all US businesses had been open for less than one year. By the end of 2011, this rate had dropped to 10 percent.

Lack of funding is also another obstacle standing in the way of revitalizing the US business sector. Last year was particularly challenging in terms of fundraising for most venture capital firms in the US, according to figures contained in the 2014 National Venture Capital Association Yearbook, prepared by Thomson Reuters. This report showed only $16.8 billion raised by 187 funds last year, down from $19.6 billion and $19 billion in 2012 and 2011 respectively.

Now let's compare this with the contributions made by foreign investors and immigrants. Of the engineering and technology companies founded in the US between 2006 and 2012, over 24 percent had at least one key founder who was foreign-born, according to a report from the Kauffman Foundation, a non-profit organization that researches entrepreneurship in the US. In Silicon Valley, this rate was even higher: at 43.9 percent. The foundation's data also show that engineering and tech firms founded by immigrants to the US employed roughly 560,000 workers and generated an estimated $63 billion in sales over the period mentioned above.

Since 1992, when the EB-5 program was split into federal and local tracks and also organized through a network of regional centers, the benefits have been spread widely across the US. Indeed, data from Civitas Capital Group, an asset management and financial services firm that oversees 14 such regional centers, show that immigrant investors have provided hundreds of millions of dollars toward a range of EB-5 projects that have employed thousands of people in the communities where they are located. In Colorado alone, for instance, investment centers have put over $80 million in projects that have created more than 2,000 full-time positions.

Looking ahead, investment coordinators in the state also have processed over $200 million in EB-5 investment, money which is now in the pipeline for future use.

Moreover, Civitas is actively expanding - despite the looming expiration date - and earlier this year secured approval to operating in Atlanta, Denver, Miami, Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City.

When one compares tightening liquidity conditions and weakening business activity in the US against the oversized contributions made by foreign investors, it is not hard to draw conclusions. Extending the EB-5 program and significantly expanding the number of foreign investors who are allowed to stay in the US offers a simple and effective way to bolster entrepreneurship and boost investments.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn