Just out of interest with #1 - what's to stop an immigrant from simply "buying" themselves a visa by hiring 4 people at minimum wage for 9 months? Even if you didn't make a cent of revenue, you could do still that for ~60K right? Doesn't seem like a lot to obtain US citizenship.
60k is a lot of money, especially for the people who have the most to gain from a US citizenship (i.e. people from the 3rd world who are not independently wealthy).
A Swede will not pay 60k because the US is, for the most part, not that much (if at all) better than Sweden, and most Indians don't have that kind of money.
I did, but I am not there yet. Soon, but not today. All my cash, time and energy are invested into my existing business. And trying to expand that business into US slowly without a massive and risky upfront investment would only give me a non-resident visa, not a green card.
1. Entreprenurs .... You start a business and hire 4-5 FT US employees 2. Investment .... Invest 500K in some Federal designated area.