KVIG Informative

Starting this spring, a small business in Nevada not fully owned by U.S. citizens can no longer get a federally backed loan to grow — no matter how long it’s been open or how many people it employs.

New Small Business Administration guidance issued in February bars any small business not 100% owned by U.S. citizens from accessing SBA-backed loan programs, including the agency’s flagship 7(a) and 504 loan programs, effective March 1.

The rule change was flagged as a major concern in a 2026 policy fact sheet from Small Business Majority, a national small-business advocacy nonprofit that surveys and represents small business owners on federal policy issues.

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The group’s research found that 89% of small business owners it surveyed support modernizing the legal immigration system to reduce backlogs and make it easier for qualified workers to enter the country legally. Another 87% support a pathway to citizenship for so-called Dreamers, people brought to the U.S. as children without legal status.

Small Business Majority is urging Congress to prohibit what it calls baseless mass deportations and to enact guardrails on the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to ensure enforcement doesn’t disrupt the economy through the loss of labor or economic activity.

One small business owner cited anonymously in the group’s fact sheet, who operates a daycare, said ICE raids and mass deportation threats scare the working families who use the daycare, adding that the fear has also placed significant stress on her own staff and could affect her ability to keep the business running.

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Another business owner cited in the report, whose clients are largely Latino families celebrating quinceañeras, said the combination of economic conditions and heightened immigration enforcement in the area has created significant challenges for the business.

The SBA’s new rule doesn’t ask whether a small business owner pays taxes, employs Nevadans or has run a shop on the same corner for a decade. It asks one question — citizenship — and as of March 1, a wrong answer is enough to close the door on the loan programs that keep Main Street businesses afloat.