Chinese Investors Sue U.S., Say Visa Program Hurts Jobs

A State Department policy is preventing a visa program from creating the 100,000 jobs annually that it was intended to, according to a lawsuit filed by Chinese investors and a regional center that receives investor funds.

The case, filed in federal district court in Washington, challenges how the agency is counting the number of visas issued under the EB-5 immigrant investor program. It seeks to represent a class of potentially 20,000 Chinese investors who are caught in a backlog that could last as long as 16 years.

The law says the roughly 10,000 visas available each year are supposed ...