July 30th, 2010 |
 The family had spent some considerable time investigating options for immigration to different countries with their short list comprising Australia, Canada and the United States. They had concerns regarding the climate being too cold for much of the year in Canada and felt Australia was less central for their business requirements than the USA, deciding that California was the best match for their needs. Once they had determined that California most suited them they had spoken to an Attorney regarding visa options and she had put them in touch with WhichEB5 to take them through the various regional center programs. The family was particularly concerned that once they received the visa there should be no problems at the two year stage (the removal of conditions) so were very insistent that the center should have a proven and straightforward record of job creation. They also did not want a project that could have difficulty obtaining subscribers, in case it did not reach a critical mass and then failed to go ahead. Finally exit strategy and the return of their funds was an important consideration. These specific requirements considerably narrowed down the range of options and after discussing these with them over a number of internet phone conversations, a meeting was held at our office and subsequently they visited three regional centers. Their final decision was based on these visits with the chosen center particularly impressing them, as they felt as an ongoing program it was well proven and minimized as far as possible risk factors. The family has now successfully relocated to California. We have continued to keep in touch and checked out issues that have cropped up with him for the benefit of new investors.
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Tags: attorney, california, Canada, eb5, exit strategy, Immigration, job creation, regional center, removal of conditions, USA, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
July 20th, 2010 |
I don’t usually write about personal experiences in this blog but I must make an exception and tell you about my weekend trip to Martha’s Vineyard to lunch with members of the U.S. Senate.
This weekend I had the pleasure of being invited to have lunch in Martha’s Vineyard with a group of very influential people. Among the group that numbered about forty were Senator Chuck Schumer D-NY, Senator Jack Reed D- RI and Senator Robert Menendez D-NJ (Senator Menendez went on to appear on NBC’s Meet The Press the next day).
Apart from the chance to visit such a beautiful, very hot, destination, a destination that has been frequented by political figures for many years, I was looking forward to having the opportunity to speak with the Senators in a more intimate atmosphere than the usual meetings I have attended from time to time in Washington and to presenting some ideas for improving the effectiveness of the EB-5 program.
The weekend started with a flight from Florida to Boston, a city I have not visited for any length of time before. Arriving a day before the meeting with the Senators I was able to see some of the historic sites of Boston. I particularly enjoyed the State House as it was from here that the British ran the colony well before a famous Tea Party (For those of our readers who are new to American History, this Tea Party has absolutely nothing to do with a current movement you may hear about on the news) signaled the beginning of the end of British rule here in the USA. Being born in the U.K. and later becoming a naturalized American, this was of great interest to me.
 Air Conditioning on a Cesna As the lunch meeting in Martha’s Vineyard was set for 12.00 mid-day on Saturday I had arranged to fly from Boston to MV on Cape Air. The experience flying on an 8-seater, 30 year old Cessna is something quite unique. Just how unique? I have inserted a photo showing the air-conditioning on this flight!
In case it is hard to see I should just explain that the pilot is holding open the window while we are making our way to the take-off point; this allows the passengers to breath! To be fair, the temperature outside was approaching 40 degrees Celsius (100 F). I must also point out that not only were the flights on Cape Air smooth and professional in every way, they were quite enjoyable once one has overcome the typical thoughts associated with self preservation.
Arriving early in MV I had an opportunity to explore a little. I was taken aback by the beauty of the place and can understand why it is the chosen summer destination for so many.
As the lunch party started to arrive I was led to my seat on a table just to the right of Sen. Chuck Schumer D-NY. Leading the speeches was Senator Robert Menendez D-NJ who presented a well balanced delivery covering many topics of importance. Sen. Schumer also spoke eloquently on multiple subjects. Interjections by other guests followed and questions from some of the attendees were also voiced.
I took the opportunity to speak with Sen. Menendez regarding my involvement in, and passion for, the success of the EB-5 program.
My main focus was on the desire for premium processing for the I-526 immigrant investor petition. With premium processing available for many other types of petitions it does not make any sense to me that we make perhaps our most desired class of immigrant, those investing $500,000 to $1,000,000 into the U.S. economy, wait up to four months to know if their petition has been successful. I did emphasize that the staff of the USCIS EB-5 unit have done an outstanding job for us, the EB-5 stakeholders, and we would like to implement an improvement to the program that would also benefit that department. This move alone would, in my opinion, lead to increased use of the visa, more certainty for the applicant, an increase in international investment in the U.S. economy and of course greater job creation. Sen. Menendez was sympathetic to my point and suggested I follow-up with his Chief of Staff (Danny O’Brien) with further details and proposals.
I then had an opportunity to speak with Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. Once again I voiced my enthusiasm and desire to keep the EB-5 program heading in the right direction. Along with the need to implement premium processing we talked about the potential benefits to the State of Rhode Island of establishing a Regional Center there. The Senator appeared interested in exploring this further and suggested we bring the point to his attention once the Governor’s race in RI has been settled.
I must say that I felt it very beneficial to have an opportunity to meet with and discuss these topics with such distinguished guests. If we, as advocates of the EB-5, can make representations to those with an opportunity to champion the concerns of EB-5 applicants in Washington I believe it is what we must do to preserve both the integrity of and future success of the EB-5 program.
I concluded my trip to New England with a visit to Harvard on Sunday morning. At least now I can say “I went to Harvard” even if it was only for a day!
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Tags: american, Boston, british, Cape Air, eb-5, Harvard, I-526, job creation, Marthas Vineyard, meet the press, Menendez, naturalized, New England, political, premium processing, professional, Reed, Schumer, Senator, State House, Tea Party, U.S. Senate, USA, uscis, washington
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
March 17th, 2010 |
 Are EB5 regional center programs attracting American investors? A few regional center programs highlight, as a positive indicator, the point that some of their investors are US citizens who although not requiring a visa still decide to invest on the same terms and share the same investments as EB-5 immigrant. This raises other questions which need to be answered such as:
Is this a historic position going back several years, and in the current economic climate is this still the case?
How many new American investors made investments in the past six months?
Presumably the American investors focus was investment, however, from the alien EB5 immigrant perspective, job creation is a critical factor otherwise they risk losing their green cards at I-829 stage (removal of conditions),
It is critical for the potential EB-5 immigrant to make sure all is as it seems – for more information contact us.
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Tags: american, eb-5, eb5, green card, I-829, immigrant, job creation, regional center
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
March 5th, 2010 |
 This is an area that can be overlooked when looking into the various EB-5 investor visa regional center program options. Many ask what it means.
In summary, regional center programs vary considerably both in size and popularity. Some Centers have programs only requiring a few investors, some, such as a proposed car plant, will require hundreds even thousands of investors.
Some centers have an established track record and it is possible to determine how long it is likely to take for the program to be fully subscribed; with others there is very little evidence to go on.
However, the questions that need to be asked are:
• What happens if a program does not fully subscribe, can it then go ahead?
• If not, what happens to job creation?
• Will you ever get your money back?
These are clearly very important issues particularly in the current economic climate and ones that seem all too often to be receiving less than adequate attention.
Ask us what this means to the safety of your regional center choice. Contact the experts at Which EB5 for information on regional centers.
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Tags: application, eb-5, eb5, investor visa, job creation, money back, regional center, track record, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
February 4th, 2010 |
 Job creation in the EB-5 Visa Program This is particularly important at the I-829 stage when conditions are removed, assuming of course that the $500,000 principal has been utilized as required, and the 10 jobs required have been created.
All too often this is an area where not enough attention is given, and in many cases evidence of jobs created will be required. In certain cases a delay or problem with a program could jeopardize the creation of these all important jobs.
However, there is an interesting alternative that is operated by a very small number of regional centers. USCIS recently indicated they are accepting the use of economic models based on infusion of capital. If such a model is used to calculate job projections at the I-526 stage, an investor could receive credit for job creation at the I-829 stage by establishing that the regional center utilized the requisite amount of capital into the new commercial enterprise, and that the new commercial enterprise spent that capital. All this could be done without specific direct data about actual job creation.
“If the infusion of capital occurs according to the approved business plan and economic analysis, and the capital investment scheme comes to fruition in the manner outlined in the business plan, then the economic data provided in support of the Form I-526 petition regarding indirect job creation may demonstrate the creation of the indirect jobs without the submission of further detailed data about job creation at the Form I-829 petition stage”.
Contact Which EB5 for more information on job creation methods and the effect upon your EB-5 visa success.
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Tags: eb5, I-526, I-829, job creation, regional center, uscis, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
October 30th, 2009 |
These type of programs focus on your $500,000 investment (in an approved regional center program) being used as part of a fixed term loan to a company, business or economic development agency, rather than being used as a direct investment in a specific building, resort or enterprise.
This type of program is becoming increasingly popular as many potential EB-5 visa investors are focusing on three issues:-
• Obtaining their green cards in a timely manner
• Having conditions removed after two years
• Maximizing the likelihood of the return of their $500,000
Effectively, rather than investing in programs such as commercial real estate, resorts and mixed fund investments which may not have a clear specific and dated exit strategy, an alternative is to invest in a regional center program which loans the funds to an infrastructure development project, such as developing roads, sewerage systems etc. The loan has a specific time period usually five or six years.
Such programs may have several advantages namely:-
• The exit strategy is clear and a defined end to your investment is indicated
• The projects may be with quasi public sector agencies, which in the current economic climate may be seen by some clients as a viable alternative to private companies.
• Some well structured programs use an advantageous job creation model – in effect this may reduce the worries posed by other models
However there are very few proven center currently operating this program, if you would like further details please contact Which EB-5 at: info@whicheb5.com
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 regional centers; you make the same investment plus get all the independent advice of Which EB-5 at no cost to you.
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Tags: commercial real estate, eb-5, economic climate, economic development agency, exit stratergy, green card, independent advice, infrastructure, investor green card, investors, job creation, mixed fund investment, quasi public, regional center, resorts, specific time, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
May 21st, 2009 |
This is one of the primary questions to be explored as you and your advisor undertake your due diligence in evaluating the safety of your investment and the potential of a regional center. If the original project hits one or more roadblocks, does the center have a plan to maintain the program? Can it still produce that all-important job creation element?
There are many reasons why a project may not proceed according to the original plan. It is very difficult to presume all the potentials that can happen, but a good third-party advisor will know what to look for, and what to look for in a fall-back plan. To give you an idea, suppose that the project that you have chosen is underfunded—that it fails to recruit the number of investors that were originally planned for, and so the whole project cannot proceed. What happens then?
In this instance, your advisor will be looking to see if the regional center has a plan to pursue other funding sources, such as commercial lending. This would enable the center to utilize your investment capital and also to secure the necessary additional funding to complete the project so that its qualification status can be maintained. These kinds of safety-nets are even more reasons to thoroughly evaluate the center and its project. You need assurances that the center/project has the means to secure outside funding in the event that it is needed—that a commercial lender or other investment mechanism would find the center to be a good investment risk. This is also an example of why you need someone to dig really deep and find out who potential fund recipients will be, so that it can be determined how likely your investment is to be repaid, and to determine how fit those entities are as “collateral” for the project.
Additionally, if other sources of funding are to be secured, you need to know that your project will still continue to qualify as a basis for EB-5 immigration. This is where things really start to get complex again, and where a solid team of professionals and consultants to back you and guide you prove invaluable. At this point, not only are you talking about the numbers of the investment, but the legalities of investment law and visa approval; it takes a great deal of experience and knowledge in all the applicable arenas to lend the amount of confidence you need to such an undertaking.
As we said, this is only one example of the variables affecting the security of your EB-5 investment. There are many others that a third-party consultant can help you deal with. Expect your advisor to speak frankly with you and perform this deep level of due diligence so that you can determine the safety of your investment in all respects to the extent that is prudent and reasonable.
Next we will look at: What happens to your money once invested in an EB-5 Regional Center? In the meantime, if we can answer any of your questions please contact Stephen Parnell or Andrew Bartlett at Which EB5
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Tags: andrew bartlett, commercial lending, eb-5, Immigration, job creation, regional center, stephen parnell, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
May 20th, 2009 |
Any investor will always have concerns over the safety of their investment. When that investment is the key to your chosen future, however, safety becomes a very subjective term. In the case of EB-5 investment, safety takes on a very unique life of its own, and often leads to investors going to extremes rather than considering the best balance between investment safety and immigration qualification.
Not uncommonly, and really not surprisingly, people who are looking to immigrate through the EB-5 will do one of two things; they either
• Focus intently on the investment potential at the expense of attending to the visa implications of the project, often assuming that the one will take care of the other, or they
• Focus intently on the visa implications without attending to the business end of their investment.
At least on the surface there are fairly obvious repercussions of either practice. Potentially, you could end up with a great return on investment and never gain visa approval, collecting on your investment while still living in your home country, or you could gain that visa approval and be here in the States and see almost no return on your investment. Even these are not the worst things that could happen, though. It is just as possible that, without the right level of thorough due diligence, you could lose all your invested monies and not qualify for a visa because the project failed when there were no jobs created. We’ve already discussed the possibility that a poorly planned and executed investment could gain you conditional status, but not full green card status. Having your green card revoked at the two-year mark is a very real possibility, too, if that job creation component cannot be solidified.
When you are talking in terms of investment safety with the EB-5 program, you have to consider it from different angles. One angle is the amount of risk that the investment itself carries—that is why your advisor will go through the proposed business plan thoroughly, as well as all claims and documentation to make sure everything makes good business sense. The safety of your EB-5 investment is something that needs to be handled carefully, and with a perspective of balance. On the one hand, there is no 100% safe investment, because all investments must carry some risk in order to qualify for visa approval. On the other hand, that is not a reason to choose a risky investment project—the CIS expects a reasonable amount of risk, and a reasonable amount of safety as well.
Determining investment safety and risk goes beyond the business or investment plan, though. It also requires due diligence in terms of how prospective fund recipients will be chosen, and/or who those fund recipients are (if already known). This will give an indication as to the likelihood of loans and investments being paid back or their seeing a return.
The other angle that needs addressing when considering safety and choosing an EB-5 regional center investment is the safety of your money as an immigration vehicle. You need to know that a successful project will be a qualifying EB-5 project—one that has what it takes to be approved by CIS as a green card condition. It’s not enough for an investment to produce a return on your money, it must also meet the stringent requirements laid out by CIS.
Part and parcel to determining how safe your investment is, and how likely it is to gain you approval at both the I-526 petitioning stage and the I-829 stage, is knowing not only what happens according to plan, but also knowing what happens if things do not go accordingly. When the unexpected happens, does the center have a plan for dealing with it? Is there a solution that will preserve your immigration or petition status? You need a way of determining whether or not such a plan is in place, and whether that plan is reasonably viable as well. Again, that means more due diligence, and a lot of in-depth research.
Next we will look at: Should a regional center have a fallback plan? In the meantime, if we can answer any of your questions please contact Stephen Parnell or Andrew Bartlett at Which EB5
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Tags: andrew bartlett, eb-5, green card, I-526, I-829, investment, job creation, regional center, safety, stephen parnell, visa approval, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
May 18th, 2009 |
Immigrating through an EB-5 investment hinges heavily on the job creation of the regional center. Without creating jobs, there is no way a project will result in an approved green card application. Economic stimulation through job creation is the express mission of the EB-5 and the regional center pilot program. What’s more, the approval of your green card application is not all that is riding on the center’s job creation methodology—the removal of conditions on the green card (which happens after two years) and your full permanent immigration status also relies on it.
The ability of the center to actually come through on their job creation forecasts is integral to achieving full permanent residence in the U.S. At the completion of the two-year conditional visa period, the number one factor that the USCIS will be looking to see proven is the implementation of the center’s business plan and the actual—not proposed or forecasted—creation of at least ten jobs which can be directly attributed to your $500,000 (or 1 million if that is the case) investment.
To say the very least, the job creation methodology of the regional centers you are considering is crucial; therefore, your advisor will be focusing in heavily on evaluating their methodology, specifically looking to see that the jobs created, either indirectly or directly, can be solidly accounted and their projections reproduced. In addition, your advisor will dig deeper to try to determine what else backs up the center’s original plan. As he or she does this, he will put the center’s plan to the test, asking questions such as:
• How did the center arrive at its calculations for job creation?
• What documentation and analysis supports the number put forth by the regional center?
• Do these numbers make sense?
• How will job creation be monitored as the project progresses?
• Is there a plan to remedy the situation if job creation is not proceeding as planned?—In other words, a plan to make up for your lost, but still required, ten jobs?
Along with determining the number of jobs created, you need to know just what that job creation looks like. You need to know what types of jobs are being counted toward the requisite number. You need to know if those jobs are positions that are directly created and attributable to your investment money, or if they are projected jobs that will be induced or indirectly created by extension of the business plan and project funds.
Certainly the great advantage of the EB-5 regional center program is that indirect job creation is accepted by the USCIS. This means that you need to be sure of the center’s job creation methodology, and to do that you will most certainly want the added security of having a professional researching that and double-checking the information that is used to produce the number and the conclusion that has been arrived at. He or she will look to see that not only does the center have a plan for creating jobs, but that at minimum ten of those positions will fulfill the requirements of being full-time positions (remembering that part-time positions do not qualify), and that those positions are solely attributable to your investment money, as there is no overlap or “sharing” of job creation allowed between investors.
To give you some idea of how complex an undertaking proving job creation is, here are some of the different ways that regional centers and the USCIS go about proving that your investment will result in jobs being created.
As we know, the limited liability company or limited partnership (the regional center project) that you invest in does not have to directly hire anyone. Instead, the center’s plan may be to arrange for the businesses and loan recipients who borrow or obtain the funds to produce the jobs by directly creating positions and filing them through direct hires (in other words, the person or entity who receives the money hires, ten workers).
Another common scenario in the case of real estate-based projects is that the businesses who rent the developed space will directly hire a set amount of people into full-time positions they have created. To determine qualification of the jobs created, the CIS will “plug” these numbers into an econometric model. That model will have certain multipliers based on each specific industry. To be successful, the model should return at least ten new jobs created based on that model per each investor. These must be new jobs, and cannot be comprised of transferred positions that are simply relocated into the regional center’s geographical area.
Another possibility is that the regional center project had its job-creation model approved based on a specific number of jobs being created for a certain amount of investment money. For example, the partnership (regional center) may lend money to a private company or a government agency who in turn agrees to invest a specified amount of money. These figures are again “plugged into” an econometric model that projects the numbers of jobs created for certain levels of investment, and for certain amounts of money spent by the borrower. When this is the case, the project must be able to illustrate the model, and also prove that the borrower has spent that requisite amount of money to have resulted in the creation of at least ten new jobs.
Job creation analysis is a highly complex undertaking. Some centers are partnered with Universities and leading economists for the projection and calculation of job creation. That is not to say that you can trust in a job creation claim from a regional center just because they have a big name University or professional on their list, but just to show that this is no simple matter, and that it is one that requires thorough analysis by an experienced professional. A good advisor will have the experience working with centers, their plans and projects, and the economic tools that indicate the reliability of a regional center’s job creation projections.
Too often the viability of a project’s job creation methodology is taken for granted by investors who are given only the rosiest of projections by EB-5 centers. But with everything riding on this one factor, there is no room for that kind of error. You must be as sure as you can be that the jobs created in your name will be there when the time comes to prove them.
Next we will look at Location considerations of regional centers. In the meantime, if we can answer any of your questions please contact Stephen Parnell or Andrew Bartlett at Which EB5
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Tags: eb-5, econometric model, green card, Immigration, investment, investors, job creation, permanent residence, regional center, regional center pilot program, removal of conditions, uscis, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
April 9th, 2009 |
Yesterday we looked at some important questions you need answers to when considering which regional center you choose for your EB-5 visa. Today we’ll take a look at one of those considerations; job creation.
Why is the job creation element of a regional center investment so important? Quite simply because without the requisite number of jobs being created by your investment, your green card could possibly be of a very temporary nature.
Looking at job creation by a regional center consider, in part, the following:
“Show, using reasonable methodologies, that 10 or more jobs are actually created either directly or indirectly by the new commercial enterprise through revenues generated from increased exports, improved regional productivity, job creation, or increased domestic capital investment resulting from the pilot program. The requirement of creating at least 10 new full-time jobs may be satisfied by showing that, as a result of the investment and the activities of the new enterprise, at least 10 jobs will be created indirectly through an employment creation multiplier effect. To show that 10 or more jobs are actually created indirectly by the business, reasonable methodologies may be used, such as multiplier tables, feasibility studies, analyses of foreign and domestic markets for the goods or services to be exported, and other economically or statistically valid forecasting tools which support the likelihood that the business will result in increased employment”.
When evaluating which EB-5 you are going to choose it is very important that you have an understanding of how the 10 jobs required to be generated by your investment are going to be created; are they all direct jobs? i.e. will the new enterprise you invest in employ 10 people by utilizing your investment? Alternatively, will the regional center you choose be able to show by “reasonable methodologies” that your investment has created 10 “indirect jobs”?
Your understanding of the job creation element of the regional center investment is perhaps the first and foremost of your considerations in choosing which regional center you will invest in.
Tomorrow we will take a look at exit strategy; how you get your investment back. Until then, if you have any questions or comments please do not hesitate to let us know.
Andrew Bartlett & Stephen Parnell
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Tags: andrew bartlett, direct jobs, eb-5, green card, indirect jobs, investment, job creation, regional center, stephen parnell, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
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