Golden Gate University School of Law GGU Law Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 4-14-2016 Why Immigrants Benefit the nitU ed States Economy and the Legal and Tax Issues Chinese, Filipinos and Vietnamese Face When Immigrating to the U.S. Marc Santamaria Golden Gate University School of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/theses Part of the Comparative and Foreign Law Commons, and the Immigration Law Commons Recommended Citation Santamaria, Marc, "Why Immigrants Benefit the nitU ed States Economy and the Legal and Tax Issues Chinese, Filipinos and Vietnamese Face When Immigrating to the U.S." (2016). Theses and Dissertations. Paper 67. This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at GGU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of GGU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW ÈÈÈÈÈ Why Immigrants Benefit the United States Economy and the Legal and Tax Issues Chinese, Filipinos and Vietnamese Face When Immigrating to the U.S. Attorney Marc Santamaria, J.D., LL.M. S.J.D. Candidate ÈÈÈÈÈ SUBMITTED TO THE GOLDEN GATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW, DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STUDIES, IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE CONFERMENT OF THE DEGREE OF SCIENTIAE JURIDICAE DOCTOR (SJD). Professor Dr. Christian Nwachukwu Okeke Professor Dr. Remigius Chibueze Professor Dr. Gustave Lele SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA April 14, 2016 Acknowledgments To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Philippians 4:20 To God be the glory. Without Him, I am nothing. Without His Son, I would not be saved. Without His Holy Spirit, I would be lost. I found guidance, love, and wisdom in writing this dissertation from the following people to whom I owe deep gratitude. I want to thank my family. My mother has always been supportive of whatever endeavor I undertake. My father has always been an example of what it takes to succeed by being disciplined, which I tried to be when I wrote this dissertation. My sister has always been the one to make me appreciate the small things and achievements. May God keep you all healthy and happy. I humbly thank my committee members. Thank you Prof. Dr. Christian Nwachukwu Okeke for our five years of friendship. Thank you for guiding me ever since I was an LLM student. You have a spirit that attracts many to you. I have learned a lot about you both legally and personally. I thank Prof. Dr. Gustave Lele for being in my committee. It was very helpful to be guided by someone who practices the same area of law. I also thank Prof. Dr. Remigius Chibueze. Thank you for teaching the dissertation seminar class that I learned so much from and used as the foundation to write my dissertation. May God bless my committee in their future endeavors. I also want to thank John Pluebell who has always had my interests at heart with not just this dissertation, but also my legal career. We have also known each other for five years. Thank you for introducing me to many people through GGU. It has been great having many conversations with you. I pray you continue to enjoy your work and that GGU truly appreciates all you do for them. ii ABSTRACT This comprehensive study in U.S. immigration law examines its interactions with many relevant and significant laws and issues that affect immigrants. This study argues that immigrants benefit the U.S. economy because of their improvement on labor competition, contribution to the technology and science fields, and direct and indirect creation of jobs. This study draws upon scholarly research that proves immigrants help wages in their respective regions grow at high rates. The next question then turns to how immigrants can move to the U.S. through certain visas, and this study has a special focus on employment and investor visas. These are the issues immigrants face with U.S. immigration policies and laws, but they also face legal and financial issues back in their home countries. This study also delves into legal, financial, and banking issues that immigrants face when immigrating to the U.S. with a special focus on immigrants from China, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Even though these are all immigrants from Asia, they all have unique backgrounds and face distinct legal and economic challenges when immigrating to the U.S. This study explores these Asian groups’ history of immigration to the U.S. It also discusses financial issues they face with respect to their respective bank industries, money transfers and anti-money laundering issues. This study then closes with a survey of tax issues that affect immigrants. Often, immigrants are unaware of the tax implications of moving to the U.S. This study aims to educate foreigners and legal scholars as to the tax consequences of being a resident for tax purposes, and then it discusses specific issues that subject them to the U.S. tax system. This study also focuses on the new U.S. reporting scheme—Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................ vii CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1 1.1. RESEARCH PROBLEM AND BACKGROUND .......................................................................... 1 1.2. PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY .......................................................................................................... 3 1.3. RELEVANCE OF THIS RESEARCH ............................................................................................ 6 1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................. 6 1.5. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................... 7 1.6. LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY .................................................................................................. 7 1.7. SCOPE OF THE STUDY AND CHAPTER OVERVIEW .............................................................. 7 2. WHY IMMIGRANTS BENEFIT THE UNITED STATES ECONOMY ................ 9 2.1. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 9 2.2. US IMMIGRATION AND THE ECONOMY ................................................................................. 9 2.3. WAGE INCREASE AND JOB CREATION ................................................................................. 13 2.4. ILLEGAL OR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ................................................................... 20 2.5. THE RATIONAL PERSON .......................................................................................................... 22 2.6. THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRANT VISA SYSTEM .................................................. 26 2.7. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 32 3. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF UNITED STATES EMPLOYMENT AND INVESTOR VISAS ........................................................................................................................ 35 3.1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 35 3.2. EMPLOYMENT AND INVESTOR VISAS ................................................................................. 39 3.2.1. THE H1-B NONIMMIGRANT VISA ................................................................................ 39 3.2.2. THE L-1A INTRACOMPANY TRANSFEREE EXECUTIVE OR MANAGER ............. 48 3.2.3. E-2 TREATY INVESTORS ............................................................................................... 54 3.2.4. THE EB-3 VISA FOR SKILLED, PROFESSIONAL, AND OTHER WORKERS .......... 59 3.2.5. THE EB-5 INVESTOR VISA ............................................................................................. 62 3.3. THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT AND INVESTOR VISAS ....................................................................................................................... 66 3.3.1. H-1B VISA ........................................................................................................................... 66 3.3.2. L-1A VISA ........................................................................................................................... 69 3.3.3. E-2 VISA .............................................................................................................................. 71 3.3.4. EB-3 VISA ........................................................................................................................... 73 3.3.5. EB-5 VISA ..........................................................................................................................