Trump Administration Prohibits SBA Loans To Noncitizens

For years, Small Business Administration (SBA)-backed small business loans were available to borrowers that were at least 51% owned by U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, and/or U.S. legal permanent residents (LPRs also known as "green card" holders). The Trump Administration has now extended the scope of its efforts to tighten immigration-related policies and rules to qualifications for SBA loans. These are loans made by private lenders to small businesses, but the loans are guaranteed by the SBA.

The process has been gradual in reducing access to SBA loans. A series of increasingly restrictive regulations culminated, earlier this month, in a policy declaration stating that any borrower that is owned, directly or indirectly, by any Noncitizen (including LPRs or U.S. citizens living abroad) is ineligible to receive an SBA-backed loan. Even a 1% ownership stake, direct or indirect, held by an ineligible person, will render the applicant business ineligible to receive an