中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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A home for sale in Newton, Mass. Two Senators are preparing to introduce a bipartisan bill Thursday that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S. |
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The reeling housing market has come to this: To shore it up, two Senators are preparing to introduce a bipartisan bill Thursday that would give residence visas to foreigners who spend at least $500,000 to buy houses in the U.S. The provision is part of a larger package of immigration measures, co-authored by Sens. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah), designed to spur more foreign investment in the U.S. Foreigners have accounted for a growing share of home purchases in South Florida, Southern California, Arizona and other hard-hit markets. Chinese and Canadian buyers, among others, are taking advantage not only of big declines in U.S. home prices and reduced competition from Americans but also of favorable foreign exchange rates. To fuel this demand, the proposed measure would offer visas to any foreigner making a cash investment of at least $500,000 on residential real-estate—a single-family house, condo or townhouse. Applicants can spend the entire amount on one house or spend as little as $250,000 on a residence and invest the rest in other residential real estate, which can be rented out. "This is a way to create more demand without costing the federal government a nickel," Sen. Schumer said in an interview. Foreigners immigrating to the U.S. with the new visa wouldn't be able to work here unless they obtained a regular work visa through the normal process. They'd be allowed to bring a spouse and any children under the age of 18 but they wouldn't be able to stay in the country legally on the new visa once they sold their properties. The provision would create visas that are separate from current programs so as to not displace anyone waiting for other visas. There would be no cap on the home-buyer visa program. Over the past year, Canadians accounted for one quarter of foreign home buyers, and buyers from China, Mexico, Great Britain, and India accounted for another quarter, according to the National Association of Realtors. The idea has some high-profile supporters, including Warren Buffett, who this summer floated the idea of encouraging more "rich immigrants" to buy homes. (Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies)
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美國兩名參議員本周四準(zhǔn)備提起一項(xiàng)跨黨派議案，為在美國購買總價(jià)50萬美元以上住房的外國人發(fā)放居留簽證，以提振美國萎靡不振的住房市場。 上述規(guī)定是一系列移民措施的一部分，由紐約民主黨人查爾斯?舒默和猶他州共和黨人邁克?李共同起草，旨在鼓勵(lì)外國投資。 在南佛羅里達(dá)州、南加利福尼亞州、亞利桑那州、以及其他房產(chǎn)重災(zāi)區(qū)的購房者中，外國買家所占比例越來越大。由于美國房價(jià)跌幅較深，國內(nèi)購房者減少，以及有利的匯率，中國和加拿大等國的購房者極占優(yōu)勢。 為鼓勵(lì)上述需求，議案提議向使用現(xiàn)金投資購買50萬美元以上住宅房產(chǎn)的外國人發(fā)放居留簽證，包括獨(dú)戶住房、單元公寓屋、和聯(lián)排別墅。申請人既可把全部50萬美元用于購買一套住宅，也可先花25萬美元購買一套，然后用剩下的錢再買一套用于出租。 舒默在采訪中說：“這樣一來，聯(lián)邦政府不花一個(gè)子兒，就能刺激更多需求。” 持此類新簽證進(jìn)入美國的外國人，除非通過正常程序獲得常規(guī)工作簽證，否則不能在美國就業(yè)。申請人可帶一名配偶和年齡低于18歲的孩子赴美，但如果賣掉在美國的房產(chǎn)，就無法在美國繼續(xù)合法居留。 新的居留簽證將獨(dú)立于現(xiàn)行美國簽證項(xiàng)目，不會影響到等待其他簽證的申請人，同時(shí)也沒有人數(shù)限制。 據(jù)全美房地產(chǎn)經(jīng)紀(jì)人協(xié)會統(tǒng)計(jì)，過去一年間，加拿大買家占外國購房者的四分之一，來自中國、墨西哥、英國和印度的買家總共也占到四分之一。 該設(shè)想已贏得一些著名人士的支持，包括沃倫?巴菲特。巴菲特今年夏天曾呼吁鼓勵(lì)更多“富裕移民”來美國買房。 相關(guān)閱讀 購房移民計(jì)劃 property-for-residency scheme （中國日報(bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 Julie 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: reel: 倒退，退縮 shore up: support by placing against something solid or rigid（支持） single-family house: 獨(dú)立屋，獨(dú)戶住房 condo：各戶有獨(dú)立產(chǎn)權(quán)的公寓(大樓) townhouse: 美國市內(nèi)二層樓或三層樓多棟聯(lián)建住宅 float: 提出，建議 |
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