[_delirium]

This kind of rule (Canada was floating a similar one) is usually added in an attempt to keep visa-sellers out of the market, i.e. outfits who will agree to fake "invest" money in your fake "startup" in return for an under-the-table fee. By limiting the people who can count as investors to those who have a track record of actually investing in startups, the hope is that this kind of fraud will be at least less frequent, and easier to police.

[whack]

The EB5 program already exists which allows people to buy permanent residency. Anyone who wants to "buy a visa" can just do that with the full blessing of the government.

[_delirium]

That requires quite a bit more money, at least $500,000. Yeah, people who have that kind of money can already buy a visa. But a visa-reselling scheme here could be much cheaper, targeting people who want to buy a visa for, say, $30,000. The fraudulent investor would structure their investment so they don't actually part with the purported investment money (depending on what checks are done, there are various ways to either hang on to the money or round-trip it), and just charges a fee for agreeing to pretend to invest and temporarily fronting the required investment money.

[Finbarr]

All you get for your money is parole though -- not a visa. You couldn't work for other companies or stay indefinitely without getting another type of visa.