Developers are hunting for investors to fund what could become Miami's tallest buildings using a federal immigration program that essentially swaps visas for cash. SkyRise Miami, a proposed tourist a…

Developers are hunting for investors to fund what could become Miami's tallest buildings using a federal immigration program that essentially swaps visas for cash.

SkyRise Miami, a proposed tourist attraction that will reach 1,000 feet into the sky, seeks as much at $270 million from foreign investors using the EB-5 program.

The Panorama Tower, an 82-story mixed-use project, seeks up to $160 million.

Both structures, which are slated for completion in 2017, would dwarf Miami's tallest building – the 64-story Four Seasons Hotel & Tower in the Brickell district, completed in 2003

An 830-foot skyscraper now under construction will be the first to join Miami's regional center immigration program intended to attract foreign investors to the United States.

Tibor Hollo's 83-story Panorama Tower at 1101 Brickell Ave. is the first project approved under the EB-5 regional center designation from U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services. Set to rise on the largest parcel in the heart of Brickell, Panorama Tower will be the tallest residential building on the East Coast south of New York. It's set for completion by the second quarter of 2017.

The tower is the first project under CIS' newly designated City of Miami EB-5 regional center, which covers Miami-Dade to Palm Beach counties and is the first city-owned, managed and operated regional center in the United States.

The program is governed by a special federal immigrant visa system that awards residency to foreign applicants who invest at least $500,000 to $1 million in U.S. projects that create at least 10 full-time jobs.