‘Prioritize Americans’: SBA shuts door on foreign national borrowers

The Small Business Administration has announced a policy change that many are surprised even needed to happen — and others are already calling for more action.

On Monday, the SBA, headed by Administrator Kelly Loeffler, announced a new policy that will ban foreign nationals and all noncitizens from accessing SBA-backed small business loans.

‘The Trump SBA is committed to driving economic growth and job creation for American citizens.’

The policy change is a continuation of another change implemented on March 1, which made small businesses owned or co-owned by a foreign national ineligible for two of the main SBA loan programs.

“The Trump SBA is committed to driving economic growth and job creation for American citizens,” Loeffler said.

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Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

“Last month, we made it clear that SBA would not allow foreign nationals to access our core small business loan programs — and today, we are expanding that policy to include all SBA-guaranteed loans. With our lending authority capped annually by Congress and amid record demand for access to capital, our responsibility is clear: The limited resource of SBA financing must prioritize American citizens who are building businesses and creating jobs here at home.”

These changes affect the Surety Bond and Microloan programs, which were revised earlier in the month.

Citing data from the SBA, Fox News reported that the agency has 3,300 loans for small businesses partially owned by lawful permanent residents, largely under the Biden administration. That number represents 4% of the agency’s total loans, currently at 85,000.

These changes revealed a system arguably more broken than many people would guess possible. Some X users expressed their surprise at the announcement: “Why this wasn’t already policy is mind boggling.”

Others, however, saw much more room for improvement.

“Retroactively make all loans issued to foreign nationals due immediately and in full,” Andrew Beck demanded.

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