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 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
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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 » |
July 12th, 2010 |
 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 in the U.S. but were concerned that their only options apparently related to the E2 and L1 visas (which do not allow or guarantee permanent residence). They were also concerned that the attorneys they spoke with, focused only on the legal aspects but were not really listening to their personal requirements, including their wide ranging concerns on their retirement in America. I-526 approval took several months and the couple were then interviewed at the U.S. Consulate in London and granted immigrant visas. The couple have subsequently had their I-829 removal of conditions granted and have settled very happily in the Florida way of life playing a lot of tennis and golf and making friends has as they say “made them more active and busier than they were in the UK “.
Read more EB-5 Success Stories here
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Tags: attorneys, british, E2, eb-5, I-526, I-829, L1, permanent residence, removal of conditions, retire, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
June 14th, 2010 |
When you are looking for a Consultant to guide you through the EB-5 investor visa options you need to look beyond their sales claims and instead focus on key basic issues. From our experience, working for a number of years on EB-5 visas and successfully working with over 150 families, EB5 consultants should at least possess the following characteristics otherwise you may be making unnecessary and dangerous risks with your $500,000 capital, as well as risking deportation if your approval fails at the I-829 removal-of-conditions stage. Over the next three days we will be looking at those qualities, namely:
• Impartiality
• Credibility
• Transparency
Today we will look at: Impartiality
Some Consultant’s advise both regional centers as well as individuals seeking impartial advice on the positives and negatives of regional centers; this may create a potential conflict of interest.
If a consultant is advising regional centers on how to best market or sell their programs it is hard to see how, at the same time, a consultant can claim to impartially recommend a range of different programs to individual clients.
Another issue relates to finder’s fees which regional centers pay to Consultants and sometimes to Attorneys, these can vary substantially. In certain cases these may include an ongoing percentage of interest payments.
A further issue can relate to Consultants having sole representation of a particular centers product. Again, in particular circumstances this may result in a conflict of interest.
Make sure your EB5 consultant is independent.
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Tags: consultants, eb-5, eb5, I-829, investor visa, regional center, removal of conditions, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
May 11th, 2010 |
We have, for several months, been concerned about a number of developments regarding some of the regional centers offering EB-5 programs. We therefore decided, after finishing our book Green Card via the Red Carpet, to spend a number of weeks conducting further in-depth research into the various regional center immigrant investor programs.
As immigration advocates who have successfully worked with over 150 EB-5 applicants from many countries, our view is very clear. Would-be EB-5 investors generally wish to focus on successfully obtaining green cards, maintaining their green cards visa status, and finally obtaining the return of their $500.000 investment. Additionally some seek a sizable return on their $500,000 investment, but generally not at the risk of jeopardizing their original capital or risking the failure of removal of conditions and potential deportation.
Our weeks of follow-up research however have highlighted many important issues which we intend to cover in short blog style articles over the next month including –
- The need to be given the facts rather than a sales presentation.
- Why you need to be taking advice from EB5 consultants who work only with potential immigrants, rather than consultants who also offer services to the regional centers themselves; providing a potential conflict of interest.
- How to be aware of the limitations of certain information – for example: What, realistically, are you likely to learn from a video interview with the head of a regional center? – it’s unlikely to focus on any bad press!
- The need to be aware of the background of the people you are dealing with. We have identified some issues which should be of real concern if you are investing $500,000 of your hard earned money, particularly if those giving you advice have had previous problems with the authorities – our research has indicated some who have!
- The need to be aware that you, like others before you, can fall victim to tactics more in keeping with a car salesman that someone really interested in your families’ welfare. We are sadly aware of immigrants investing in certain programs where the sales talk sounded great but previous investors have not received their $500,000 back and others who did not have their conditions removed after twenty one months and now face deportation.
There can be enormous questions posed when many of the investors in a program do not speak English and are totally reliant on commission earning intermediaries who may be focusing on the center paying them the highest fee.
Another potential disaster is incorrect information – we have been appalled by some of the inaccuracies we have come across, including disturbingly, some from Attorneys.
Just as bad are the cases of Attorneys and Consultants who have led potential clients to believe that they are experts on the EB-5 visa and then approach us (often anonymously or using an alias) for the information to give the clients. We have been clamping down on this practice as having worked with immigrants for many years, and being immigrants ourselves to the USA; we understand all too well the reliance placed upon accurate and independent advice. You just have to make sure the information you are getting is just that, accurate and independent.
Does this mean everything you are likely to be told is flawed, or that the risks may be too great? Well, on the positive side, we have examples of a few regional centers that do not need to actively market and do not need the sales talk. They have not only successfully worked with EB-5 immigrant investors all over the world, they can also point to the fact that unlike many who rely on sales talk, they have actually returned investors $500,000 and the families are now happily established in the USA living their American dream.
We intend to cover all these issues in our forthcoming series of blogs and can talk this through with you over the phone or at our office. For more details please use the form on this blog or contact us via email from our website www.WhichEB5.com
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Tags: accurate, advice, American dream, attorney, bad press, commission, consultants, deportation, eb-5, eb5, Green Card via the Red Carpet, highest fee, immigrant investor, immigrants, incorrect information, independent, investors, regional center, removal of conditions, USA, video interview, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
January 14th, 2010 |
 Don't overlook the important issues in EB-5 selection I am continuing yesterday’s blog from a freezing cold and snowed-in Gatwick airport, London, where I have spent the last 24 hours waiting for the airport to clear a few inches of snow. It never ceases to amaze me when traveling all over the world, including countries where there is an awful lot of snow, such as Canada, Russia, Austria, Germany, to name but a few, that in the UK it only takes a little snowfall to close one of the world’s major airports! To make matters even worse, to rebook the flight you are put into a four hour line, longer than any of the ones you may go encounter for a ride in Disneyland, this would never happen in the USA, anyway enough about my rant for the day!
Yesterday we covered areas that are all too often overlooked by those considering the EB-5 visa, particularly when identifying issues that are very important leading up to the removal of conditions and the exit strategy for the eventual return of the $500,000 investment.
Today we will look at the implication regarding the 10 jobs per investor that will need to be created. Many programs refer to these jobs and refer to an economic model that will lay out how they will be created. However, there are other implications to these jobs which are very important but all too often not discussed.
Let us say you are investing in a program that is investing funds in a portfolio of different investments. For example a hotel, office building, medical center etc. Although the economic model they use to determine jobs may be sufficient to obtain successful approval at I-526 stage, what happens in two years when conditions are due to be removed? Will the projects be completed? Will sufficient tenants be found? Will those tenants provide sufficient proof of jobs to satisfy USCIS? There are a lot of questions that need answering and your continued stay in the USA may depend on those answers.
Taking a completely different scenario; what happens in a project which is in a particularly disadvantaged area? Let us say it actually does create the jobs required, however, the exit strategy to obtain the return of your investment requires the eventual sale of you and your fellow investors shares in the project. Will the project sell, if the area surrounding it remains depressed?
There are many other issues to be considered relating to the creation of jobs as well as exit strategy and tomorrow we will examine a jobs model in more detail that may take some of the uncertainty out of the process.
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Tags: eb-5, eb5, economic model, I-526, investment, job creation model, removal of conditions, USA, uscis, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
December 22nd, 2009 |
 Solve the EB5 Visa Puzzle Green card restrictions can be removed long before investments pay off.
Immigrant investors looking for the right Visa to gain residency in the United States shouldn’t expect a fast return on their money from the EB-5 program. Still, when the right choice in a regional center is made, green card restrictions can be successfully removed fairly quickly and risk can be minimized.
The EB-5 program provides a relatively fast way to obtain a permanent green card, but it doesn’t necessarily offer a fast return on investment. There are risks involved in all regional center investments, but they can pay off with eventual earnings returns and, more importantly, a permanent green card.
Immigrants who choose the EB-5 Visa route can expect to have to wait between 21 to 24 months before they can file an I-829 petition for the removal of conditions on a green card. After this, the wait can be several years for an investment return.
The general rule of thumb is five years, Still, it is important to keep in mind that regional centers are not allowed to guarantee a return on investment. Although the EB-5 program is still relatively new, some early immigrants are beginning to see their returns now.
There are steps investors can take to increase their chances of seeing a return on investment. Carefully researching different regional centers, their programs and the stability of investments is vital. Consultants and experienced advisers can be very useful in this process.
Ask all pertinent questions before making a decision with an EB5 investment visa.
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Tags: consultants, eb-5, eb5, green card, I-829, immigrants, investment, investment visa, regional center, removal of conditions, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
May 25th, 2009 |
Safety is an important consideration, as is investment risk. Your impartial third-party advisor will also want to be sure all of your potential EB-5 decisions have been thoroughly evaluated from an investment perspective too. You need to know that there is a reasonable potential for a return of your investment and on your investment. Keep in mind that this is always necessary, even if your only true concern is getting a U.S. green card and gaining lawful permanent U.S. residence.
A bleak outlook for return on investment has implications that extend beyond your personal financial circumstances. If you think return on investment is of little or no concern to you because you are only interested in your ability to emigrate, consider this—how likely is an investment project to meet investment and job-creation criteria if it does not stand the tests of viability and produce a return on your investment? Is that investment even capable of achieving the bare-minimum of immigration petition approval and removal of conditions?
The potential for return on your investment needs to be evaluated from several points of consideration. It is always strongly recommended that you seek appropriate professional advice in evaluating all investments; this is not a personal recommendation, it is the advice of any reputable professional or resource in the field. Some of the points of consideration that your third-party advisor will be concerned with are:
• The implications of the viability of the project and return on investment from an immigration perspective.
• Return on investment from a financial investment perspective.
• The published/projected rate of return on investment.
• The variability of the rate of return—is it fixed (such as for loan interest returns) or dependent on market or other factors?
• How well suited the projected return is to your lifestyle and financial plans.
• Projected rates of return in comparison to actual returns on this or other past projects (in other words, historically speaking, has the regional center achieved the rates of return for its investors that it has said it would?).
Your best interests are served when you and your advisor are able to work together to match you to the regional centers, and eventually center, that is/are best suited to you all-around. That means that not only should your immigration goals be prioritized, but also your goals for investment and return. As any investor knows, each individual has his or her own investment style. What you consider to be a good rate of return is very much related to your style, as is what you consider to be a reasonable amount of risk. It takes a lot of work and evaluation to match you to the regional center that is really suited to your needs.
Next we’ll look at hidden costs and fees associated with your EB-5 investment. 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, green card, Immigration, investment, regional center, removal of conditions, safety
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 14th, 2009 |
Regional center track records are one of the first forms of comparison that help investors choose between various investment possibilities. Early on in the EB-5 program, that was almost enough to compare center to center and come up with the best investment. As there were only a handful of approved centers, comparisons were fairly straightforward. That situation has changed dramatically in recent years. With more than 30 approved centers and more being added to the list on a regular basis, it is much harder for immigrants to compare all the centers, to understand the diversity of information and statistics that are found, and to be able to confidently choose which center is best for their needs. Add to that the facts we discussed before—the fact that the centers should not be your one and only reliable source of research and information—and what you have is an unmanageable situation for the average immigrant investor.
In addition to this, and this is a very important fact to highlight and always remember, there can be quite a lot of differentiation even within an established and trusted regional center. A good track record with a specific or past project may not be a guarantee of the investment and visa potential of the next planned project. For this reason it is always necessary to evaluate not only the overall and long-term track record of the center, but also the track record of each project in conjunction with an in-depth analysis of the proposed projects that are being offered by the center at the current time.
It is also critical to know that designation or approval as a regional center by the USCIS does not mean that all projects and petitions emanating from that center will automatically be approved. Each project that the center undertakes is evaluated individually, as are all petitions and applications. It is true that designation as a regional center is a more secure avenue of investment for immigration, but this is only a threshold requirement—the project and the petition still need to prove their worth beyond doubt to the USCIS.
The track record of a regional center, while not a guarantee of individual approval, is a strong indicator of what the center and its management are capable of achieving. It indicates whether or not the program and its principals have the “know how” to develop strong investment programs that will qualify as immigration investments and get approved by the USCIS, and whether or not the individual investor’s petitions will be approved, both at the I-526 Stage for Conditional Permanent Residence and at the I-829 stage for Removal of Conditions.
That being said, track record alone is still not enough for you to commit to any regional center. The project that you are considering investing in also needs to be thoroughly evaluated on its own merits. Success with a past project is a good start, but in conjunction with this you need professional advice to determine the potential viability of the project that you will be investing in.
To add yet another contributing factor to the mix, all the recently launched centers and new projects must also be evaluated and considered. It takes an even higher level of care, research, and due diligence to evaluate the potential of a brand-new project where there is little or no record of success to fall back on. In order to consider a new center and/or project on your regional center “short list”, it must be thoroughly researched in conjunction with economic forecasts and business plans in order to determine its potential viability.
Contact Andrew Bartlett or Stephen Parnell for additional in-depth analysis of any potential regional center you are considering.
In the next blog we will look at the geographic location of a regional center and what they may mean to you as a potential investor.
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Tags: andrew bartlett, eb-5, I-526, I-829, immigrant petition, regional center, removal of conditions, stephen parnell, uscis
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
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