July 21st, 2010 |
 An Irish family who had significant agricultural holdings had been monitoring the progress of the EB-5 visa for several years. They had originally purchased property on the east coast of Florida and taken lengthy holidays to see how they would adjust to the American way of life. They then purchased other properties for rental, taking advantage of the bottoming of the property market and to build an earnings portfolio for eventual relocation. They required a visa route that offered permanent residency and green cards for all the family, and wished to increase their property portfolio once they had resettled in Florida. After a detailed briefing with us they decided the EB5 pilot program was the most appropriate option and looked into the various programs in more detail. They emphasized that they required a program which had not suffered from long delays caused by requests for further evidence (RFE’s), they were also concerned that the program had been operating for several years, complied with job requirements and had a clear and specific exit strategy. After investigating the alternatives and narrowing them down to two options they opted for a project which to date has a 100% track record of approval. Following clarification on a number of issues they invested $500,000 – there where additional administration and attorney fees. The family required an Attorney based in Florida with a track record of working on EB-5 applications and also had a number of questions for us regarding possible locations to resettle in, the schooling system, removals, property, transfer of pets, health coverage etc. The I-526 approval took three months and the couple were then interviewed at the U.S. Consulate and granted visas.
Read more EB-5 Success Stories here
|
| |
Tags: attorney, consulate, eb-5, exit strategy, florida, green card, I-526, Irish, permanent residence, Relocation, removal of conditions, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
April 27th, 2010 |
 Looking for EB-5 Visa opportunities at new and existing Regional Centers in the USA Thank you to all our regular blog readers for inquiring about my well being. It seems that you have all become accustom to seeing daily updates from me and miss my ramblings when I’m on the road, so my thanks go out to all of you that emailed and called. Now I’m back in Florida, at least for a while.
Last week I racked-up the frequent-flyer miles in my constant trip around the USA looking at new and established regional centers. This last journey was interesting as I visited one regional center with an appointment and another where I just turned-up to look around at what they are doing.
The investor visa program is on the growth path again with some new and some not so new business plans hoping to attract money form wealthy foreigners looking for a path to permanent residence. From what I saw during this recent trip it appears that a potential investor visa applicant has a lot of choice. However, don’t be fooled, it takes a lot of local, on the ground, looking around to separate the simply ambitious from the sound idea worthy of your $500,000 in exchange for a green card.
If you would like to discuss my findings or any other point regarding your choice of regional center please let me know as I am now booking one-on-one consultations for the next three weeks after which I’ll be back on the road looking out for interesting developments in the EB-5 visa world. (You can contact me using the form on the right).
|
| |
Tags: eb-5, florida, green card, investor visa, regional center, USA
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
February 24th, 2010 |
 EB-5 Visa Program - Fastest Way to a Green Card? Each year we work with several hundred applicants keen to use the EB5 route to permanent residence in the USA. Their reasons vary – however the majority fall into three main groups.
1. Those seeking to retire and live permanently in the States, often in the warmer climate of Florida or California, who had not realized that a suitable visa option is now available.
2. Overseas students about to be educated at Universities and Colleges in the States who want to be able to work while they study, or those who have just graduated and want to remain and work in the States. The EB5 has been particularly attractive for students from India following complications with the few other options.
3. Those relocating to the States with their families who have found that the complications of the E2 visa and the L1 visa can make these options risky, particularly if their children have to leave the USA at 21.
Read Green Card via the Red Carpet for extensive information on the EB-5 Visa program
|
| |
Tags: california, E2, eb-5, eb5, florida, India, investment visa, L1, permanent residence, USA
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
January 19th, 2010 |
 Retire in the USA using the EB5 Visa - Live in the Sunshine States or anywhere else Increasing numbers of overseas visitors love to spend part of the year in the ’sunny all year round’ states of Florida, California and Arizona. However, those wanting to retire and relocate permanently to the U.S. have often found it difficult or near impossible due to no specific visa that allows retirees to live in America year round, even if they are wealthy and self supporting.
There has been talk for years of a silver visa but nothing ever materialized. Unless retirees have a close American relative, or buy a business, permanent retirement to America has always been simply a dream. Not so any longer, as more potential retiree’s consider the EB-5 visa regional centre pilot program as the answer to living permanently in the USA. This visa category has been a blessing to retirees wishing to permanently retire to the States as it does not require them to directly operate a business.
In return for a $500,000 investment in an approved regional center program many people can achieve their lifelong dreams of permanent residence in the USA. If you would like full details of exactly how this visa category can work for you visit Which EB5 for complete EB-5 visa details.
|
| |
Tags: America, arizona, california, eb-5, florida, pilot program, regional center, retire, silver visa, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
January 6th, 2010 |
 National Public Radio One of our EB5 clients, Brian Thompson, was recently featured on (NPR) Public Radio – Below is a transcript from part of the interview with him which was covered on the Morning Edition.
“News of job creation programs has been widely reported lately, but there’s one program that many people have never heard about: Under U.S. immigration law, foreigners can invest in an American business and, in exchange, receive a green card.
This has long been a small, obscure program, but as domestic sources of financing have dried up, the number of EB-5 visas issued this way has tripled in the past year.
For investor Brian Thompson and his wife the motivation was to leave England for a place with better weather. A few years ago they put $500,000 into the redevelopment of a Seattle warehouse that is being turned into a hotel. Once it opens Thompson hopes to make his money back and then some. But the immigrant investor program requires a certain degree of risk, and if the business venture falls through, so do the green cards.
That would be the worst-case scenario,” Thompson says. “We’d be stuck in England, left without the pot of money that we’d worked all our lives for.
But so far the hotel project is on track. And since you don’t have to live where you put your money, Thompson and his wife are happily retired in Florida.
Half a million dollars is the minimum required — an investment in a more competitive area must be $1 million — and across the country, government-approved consultants have popped up to help match this foreign money with American companies.
Immigration attorneys say a big motivation for many investors is to educate their children in the U.S., since a participant’s entire immediate family also qualifies for a green card”.
More Which EB5 client success stories can be found by clicking this link now.
|
| |
Tags: eb-5, eb5, florida, green card, immigration attorney, immigration law, National Public Radio, npr, seattle, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
November 19th, 2009 |
 Complaints about Visa's I had a phone call over the weekend from a very nice lady. She was asking whether I knew about a recent conference in Orlando Florida attended by over 400 immigrants who were having problems with the renewal of their E2 and L1 visas.
I had to admit I knew nothing about this conference but was not surprised that there were so many people attending given the number of people we had been working with over the past few years who were turning to the EB-5. This was not because they particularly wanted to invest $500,000 but simply because they recognized, in their specific cases, it was their only way to obtain permanent residence in the USA.
The lady who phoned me told me about the anger and misery at this conference, of course all the stories have a family at the end whose lives have been thrown into disruption. I was surprised that with the E2 and H1-B in particular, the attorneys who had originally advised these families had, according to reports, not always pointed out the potential dangers of these visa types. After all, it’s a major problem if you relocate to the States, live here many years and then find you, or even your children, face deportation because you have not been told about the implications of your visa. It really is a very sad business. It can be avoided with the right information and advice.
|
| |
Tags: alternatives, conference, E2, eb-5, florida, H1-B, immigrants, L1, orlando, permanent residence, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
August 19th, 2009 |
A number of people that considered applying for the Canadian immigrant investor visa program had not realized that the USA has operated a similar program.
The Canadian program requires a $400,000 Canadian Dollar investment for a five year period as a no interest loan to the government. The U.S. EB5 program requires a $500,000 US dollar investment in a wide range of government approved regional centers.
The Canadian program requires that the investor has qualifying business experience and satisfies a points system, the US program does not have these restrictions.
The Canadian program guarantees the loan but offers no interest or chance of capital growth over a period of five years and two months – the U.S. EB-5 program is not guaranteed but offers approximately 60 USCIS approved regional centers covering a wide variety of business structures, including loans to quasi-government infrastructure projects, vacation resorts, property investments etc and offers a variety of interest payments and/or potential capital growth.
There are no restrictions as to where you can live in the U.S. so whether your choice is California, Hawaii, Florida, New York or indeed anywhere else, the U.S. EB5 immigrant investor option enables you to work, retire or study there.
The EB-5 Investor Green Card regional center visa program is an excellent way to quickly become a permanent resident of the United States. Which EB5 researches all regional centers; you make the same investment plus get all the independent advice of Which EB-5 at no cost to you. Contact us now for complete information.
|
| |
Tags: california, eb-5, eb5, florida, green card, investor green card, New York, regional center, USA, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
July 17th, 2009 |
Today we look at an Irish family who had significant agricultural holdings in Ireland and wanted to provide an elevated standard of living for their family by relocating permanently to the U.S.A.
The family had been monitoring the progress of the EB-5 visa for several years. They had originally purchased property on the east coast of Florida and taken lengthy holidays/vacations to see how they would adjust to the American way of life. They then purchased other properties for rental, taking advantage of the bottoming of the property market and to build an earnings portfolio for eventual relocation.
They required a visa route that offered permanent residency and green cards for all the family, and wished to increase their property portfolio once resettled in Florida.
After a detailed briefing with us they decided the EB5 pilot program was the most appropriate option and looked into the various programs in more detail. They emphasized that they required a program which had not suffered from long processing delays caused by requests for further evidence by the USCIS (RFE’s), they also wanted a program that had previously complied with job requirements and had a clear and specific exit strategy.
After investigating the alternatives and narrowing it down to two options they opted for an infrastructure project which to date has a 100% track record of approval. Following clarification on a number of issues they invested $500,000 – plus regional center administration and attorney fees.
The family decided to sell their business and property assets in Ireland which provided them with total net worth well in excess of the required figure. The I-526 approval took three months and the couple were then interviewed at the U.S. Consulate and granted visas.
If you are planning to retire permanently to the USA and are interested in the EB5 regional center pilot program you can contact the partners of Which EB-5 for a personal consultation using this link
|
| |
Tags: american, eb-5, florida, Irish, job requirements, pilot program, regional center, Relocation, request for further evidence, RFE's, USA, uscis, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
July 16th, 2009 |
Today we look at a case study that relates to an Australian family who wished to relocate to Florida.
The husband owned large specialist employment businesses in Australia and the UK. He required a visa route that offered permanent residency and green cards for all the family – with older teenage children he was concerned that other visa types might present too much risk for their future.
After a briefing with us they decided to look at the EB-5 pilot program in more detail and subsequently decided to invest $500,000 in a Limited Partnership under a Regional Center in a Targeted Employment area. The Project involved the demolition, renovation and construction of a warehouse/storage complex for mixed use.
The family decided to sell their business and property assets which provided them with total net worth well in excess of the required (by regulation) million dollar figure.
The family wanted an Attorney based in Florida with a track record of working on EB-5 applications and also had a number of questions for us regarding possible locations to resettle in, the schooling system, moving, property, transfer of pets, health coverage etc.
The I-526 approval took several months and the couple were then interviewed at the U.S. Consulate and granted visas.
We have continued to keep in touch and checked out issues that have cropped up with them for the benefit of new clients, a key one being the exit strategy of the program they opted for in the light of the world downturn and subsequent attractive projects coming on the market.
If you are planning to retire permanently to the USA and are interested in the EB5 regional center pilot program you can contact the partners at Which EB-5 using this link.
|
| |
Tags: attorney, eb-5, exit stratergy, florida, green card, I-526, regional center, relocate, retire, targeted employment area, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
July 6th, 2009 |
For the past few days we have been looking at the reasons why the EB-5 visa has been of interest to particular groups of immigrants – Today we look at a case study taken from one of our previous 100+ investors that relates to a couple who achieved their life-long dream to retire permanently in the USA.
A British couple who had spent many happy holidays with their children in Orlando Florida over the past twenty years had been looking at ways they might be able to retire permanently but were concerned that their only options apparently related to the E2 and L1 visas which either did not allow, or offer, the security of immediate permanent residence. They were also concerned that the immigration Attorneys they spoke to focused only on the legal aspects but were not really listening to their personal requirements including their wide ranging concerns on living their retirement in America.
After a meeting with Andrew Bartlett they decided to look at the EB-5 pilot program in more detail and with the husbands retirement in sight they decided to invest $500,000 in a limited partnership project in an approved and proven regional center. The program was for the improvement of a commercial warehouse project in a developing area of a major US city, the building has subsequently been renovated and leased generating a rental income of $30,000 a year.
The couple decided on a clean break from the UK, selling their British home and the rental properties they also owned which provided them with total net worth well in excess of the required (by the US government) million dollar figure along with ongoing retirement income from their years of employment.
The I-526 approval took several months and the couple were then interviewed at the U.S. Consulate in London and granted immigrant visas.
Following a further briefing with us covering key issues such as medical insurance, doctors, driving tests, shipping of their possessions and the pros and cons of different locations, they relocated to Venice Florida on the basis of the things to do, the quality of life and very competitive housing costs.
The couple have subsequently had their I-829 removal of conditions granted and have settled into the Florida way of life playing a lot of tennis and golf and making friends (making them more active and busier than they were in the UK) – Their grown up children and families visit them at least twice a year and they return to the UK when their grandchildren are on school holidays.
We have continued to keep in touch and checked out issues that have cropped up with them for the benefit of new investors, a key one being the exit strategy of the program they opted for in the light of the world downturn and subsequent attractive projects coming on the market.
If you are planning to retire permanently to the USA and are interested in the EB5 regional center pilot program you can contact us here.
|
| |
Tags: America, andrew bartlett, E2, eb-5, eb5, florida, I-526, I-829, immigrants, immigration attorneys, investors, L1, orlando, permanent residence, pilot program, regional center, retire, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
|
