The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently issued procedural notices tightening eligibility rules for its major small business lending programs. The changes now require businesses to be 100% owned by U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals, excluding legal permanent residents and other immigrants who were previously eligible. For decades, these loans helped entrepreneurs—including lawful permanent residents—start and grow businesses in neighborhoods across the country.
“Immigrant-owned small businesses are critical drivers of local economies,” said Seema Agnani, CEO of National CAPACD. “They create local jobs, strengthen commercial corridors, and help communities thrive. Restricting access will delay growth, direct businesses to predatory products, destabilize neighborhoods, and weaken local business ecosystems that depend on immigrant-owned small businesses as economic anchors.”
National CAPACD’s new factsheet explains what changed, which SBA programs are affected, and the potential economic impact on immigrant-owned small businesses and the communities that depend on them.