August 23rd, 2010 |
Many families wishing to live in the USA consider the relative advantages and disadvantages of the E2 and EB-5 visas.
In some cases the choice comes down to the funds they have available or wish to utilize. The EB-5 requires an investment of $500,000 in a program operated by a Regional Center authorized by the U.S. government. The E2 visa is likely to cost much less, indeed many families have paid in the region of $150,000 to $200,000 to purchase a suitable business qualifying for the E2.
However, a key implication that is not always realized is that the E2 visa does not provide the family with permanent residence. A senior American Consular official is reported as saying –
‘I would also like to point out that a non immigrant (E2) visa is not a good option for someone who intends to reside permanently in the United States. If the investor retires or sells their investment, his or her visa status lapses and he or she must leave the US. Only single dependent children under 21 are eligible for visas to accompany their investor parent, and when these children turn 21 they lose their status as a dependent and their visa. The more secure option for those that have the necessary capital is the permanent resident [green card EB5] investor visa. In this case the required investment is one million dollars, or under certain circumstances $500,000.’ John Caulfield, Consul General, US Embassy London.
There have been a number of well reported cases of families and/or their children having to leave the USA due to the E2 visa failing to be renewed. This can still happen even after the family may have lived in America for many years when perhaps their children know no other way of life.
Indeed the situation regarding the limitations has become so notorious that a petition signed by many E2 visa holders, desperate to remain in America, has been drawn up for presentation to Congress.
The New York Times recently reported an unfortunately typical scenario where a family who had been operating a business on an E2 visa for nine years had the renewal of their E2 visa refused. This left them no option other than to return back to the country that had left nearly a decade earlier.
Of course, many do not have the $500,000 required to make the investment for the EB-5 visa. However, for those that do, the fact that it provides permanent residence status is an enormous benefit in many ways.
- Full permanent residency rights apply.
- In certain states you pay lower property tax costs and your children pay lower tuition rates at many Colleges and Universities.
- Children do not have to leave the USA once they turn 21.
Depending upon your circumstances the EB-5 could be seen as an inexpensive option. The one visa covers the entire family, applicant, spouse and all their children under 21. Select the right regional center and not only should you get your $500,000 back at a point in the not too distant future, you may also get a return on your investment. The same cannot be said with confidence about the E2 visa, particularly in the current economic climate.
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Tags: America, congress, E2, eb-5, New York Times, permanent residence, regional center, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
August 20th, 2010 |
As the EB-5 visa has become increasingly popular among people looking to immigrate to the USA, questions are being raised about the quality of advice they are receiving. Is it impartial and what are the motives behind the information they are given?
By way of background, the EB-5 visa has a pilot program which is due to end in 2012. The program requires an investment of $500,000 which needs to be in one of approximately 100 government approved regional centers. These regional centers need to create ten jobs per investor in what is termed a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), in areas of specific higher unemployment.
The attractiveness of the visa program is that it can provide one of the fastest routes to permanent residency (Green Card) in the USA for the applicant, their spouse and children.
Many potential applicants who seek impartial and independent advice on the advantages and disadvantages of the various EB-5 programs tend to approach attorneys or consultants to provide them with the facts. However, recent feedback has highlighted issues with some of the advice that is given.
EB-5 applicants require detailed specific legal advice on the visa itself. There are a number of specialized immigration attorneys who have successfully processed multiple EB-5 applications. Interestingly a number of the most respected and experienced of these specialist attorneys have voiced concern over a possible conflict of interest if the EB-5 attorney/lawyer also recommends a particular regional center investment (which pays them a finder’s fee) as well as carrying out the applicants legal work.
Another consideration may be how much knowledge the attorney has on the pros and cons of the various centers. It certainly is more difficult to know all the ins and outs of the various centers without visiting them and having a good look around, how many attorneys have done that?
Applicants also may turn to consultants who specialize in the EB-5 visa for advice and again there have been concerns raised about the actions of some of these people.
Problems may occur if consultants only work with one or two centers and are in reality agents of those centers. Given that there have been issues with some regional center programs leading to rejection of visa applications, as well as instances of funds being allegedly stolen, it is important to get all the facts from ethical experienced EB5 consultants with a proven track record.
There are also concerns if consultants have a potential conflict of interest in that they also market their services to regional centers to advise them, provide marketing or sales advice, or set out to recruit applicants for them. Concern is focused on a possible conflict of interest if a consultant is being paid an advisory fee by one or more regional centers and giving advice on how to target applicants as well as providing, on the face of it, impartial advice to prospective applicants.
One of the few published books on immigration using the EB-5 suggests, when selecting an EB5 consultant, the following questions should be asked:-
- Do you also provide paid advice to any regional centers?
- Have you ever been paid to advise regional centers?
- Do you have an immigration attorney working with you who has made multiple successful EB-5 applications to different regional centers?
- How many successful and unsuccessful EB-5 applicants have you advised?
- Which countries do these applicants come from, can we speak to them?
- Have any of your senior officers ever had any convictions or citations or debars from any national, state business or professional organization?
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Tags: attorney, consultants, eb-5, green card, immigrate, permanent residence, pilot program, regional center, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
August 19th, 2010 |
The EB-5 regional center pilot program visa provides the opportunity for green cards and permanent residency in the USA for the applicant, their spouse and children under 21. The U.S. government, through The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) has so far approved approximately 100 regional centers to offer programs that qualify for this visa which requires an investment of $500,000 if the program is in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA).
One of the questions sometimes asked by potential applicants is do I have to live in the area that I invest in? The simple terms answer is no. Under the regional center pilot program you are free to invest in any of the regional center programs and can live wherever you want, regardless of where you invest.
Having established you do not need to invest where you live, it is worth examining why you would even want to.
It is a reasonable assumption that most families looking at the EB-5 regional center route to permanent residency in the USA, wish to invest in program that best matches their priorities and requirements, which according to leading EB-5 consumer advocates, has:-
- A good track record of approvals.
- Clear evidence that the program will create 10 jobs per investor, or in certain cases save jobs, and return the $500,000 investment.
- A fixed term so they know exactly when their investment will be returned.
Most don’t want
- Ambiguity regarding the term, particularly in the current economic climate
- A project that has experienced refusals, particularly at the I-829 stage. (This relates to the removal of conditions after two years).
- A center currently experiencing litigation or potential shut down by USCIS.
- Directors with an ambiguous or troubled history.
- A regional center program that simply views the program as an easy and cheap way to raise cash, from captive and unprepared overseas investors.
As you can from the above criteria, the key is to find the best program to match your requirements rather than focusing on a program in the location you are planning to reside in. It is imperative you chose the most appropriate regional center program regardless of where it is located, as you require it to work, so the necessary jobs are created, the program succeeds and your investment is returned. It is pointless choosing a program in the area you are planning to live in unless it can deliver these essential requirements.
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Tags: eb-5, green card, I-829, permanent residence, pilot program, regional center, USA, uscis, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
August 16th, 2010 |
If you would like to read the latest articles from Which EB5 you can find links to them at the Which EB5 Twitter page. Here are a list of the titles:
- EB-5 Consultants and Attorneys – Whose side are they on?
- Has anyone ever got their money back from the EB-5 visa program?
- Is the EB-5 visa going to buy you the American dream?
- Myths about the EB-5 Regional Center investment Visa.
- How do I choose an EB-5 regional center?
- Can you buy your way into the USA?
While you are there why not sign-up to follow us on Twitter so you can be one of the first to know when we have news on the EB5 to share?
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Tags: articles, attorney, consultants, eb-5, investment visa, regional center, twitter, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
August 5th, 2010 |
 Familia venezolana empleó la visa EB-5 para conseguir el derecho a residencia permanente en EE.UU. Venezuelan family successfully use EB-5 visa to gain permanent residence in the USA
Una familia procedente de Venezuela buscaba un programa del centro regional que le ofreciese una estrategia de salida con un límite de tiempo determinado. Logramos identificar un programa que reuniese sus requisitos y, tras realizar la solicitud, consiguieron el estatus de residentes permanentes gracias al programa. Se nos ha solicitado que no proporcionemos más datos.
Venezuelan family successfully use EB-5 visa to gain permanent residence in the USA
A family from Venezuela wanted a regional center program that had a time specific fixed exit strategy. We successfully identified a program that matched their criteria and they successfully applied and obtained permanent residence status through the program. We have been requested not to provide further information.
Read more EB-5 Success Stories here
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Tags: eb-5, permanent residence, regional center, Venezuelan, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
August 4th, 2010 |
 The EB-5 visa has been available in its current format for several years and as a result there is a fair amount of evidence to draw on regarding its success, as well as some failures.
For those of you considering the EB-5 as your gateway to permanent residence in the USA you will need to invest $500,000 in one of many government approved regional center programs typically for five to six years. In return, if you fulfill the requirements of investing in specific areas, and the program creates ten jobs per investor, you, your spouse, and children under 21 get to achieve permanent residency (Green Card) status in the USA.
Those brave pioneers who first used the EB5 route some six years ago are now in a position to have received their investment back and obtain US citizenship if they so choose. Going back six years there were literally only a handful of programs available to choose from. These programs still exist, but only one has repaid their initial investors in full. That program had a clear and fixed exit strategy covering repayment of the investment.
So, for many people, that raises the question; will I get my money back? The answer in the case of that project is yes. However, in the case of other centers, without that clear exit strategy in writing, there is still no answer.
The EB5 investor visa program has many benefits but an ongoing problem remains for those that seek information direct from the regional centers rather than experienced independent advisers. The regional centers want, and indeed need to sell places and sometimes they may be economical with the facts in order to win you over and steal you away from a competing regional center project.
For example, are you in a hurry to obtain your EB5 visa? If so you may be drawn to a particular regional center that makes a number of claims including that it has a faster processing time. Here is a direct quote from their website and promotional material:
“Credibility of the State of XXXXXXX with governmental responsibility and oversight means that investors’ petitions are given priority by CIS, resulting in a faster path to approval”
Enquiries into the accuracy of this statement by independent EB5 investigators to the USCIS (the U.S. Government) resulted in the following response:
“XXXXXXX Regional Center petitions are not given priority over other Regional Center petitions”.
Are any other statements on that website inaccurate? I’ll leave you to be the judge.
Another regional center claim a100% track record but there has been a number of refusals which are not highlighted in their sales material.
Sometimes families researching the various EB5 programs are attracted by well known names associated with particular regional centers yet with a little help it is not difficult to discover there a number of less well known, mundane, and frankly boring programs with excellent track records, well thought through, and certainly in the current economic climate, worthy of attention.
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Tags: citizenship, eb-5, eb5, green card, investor visa, permanent residence, regional center, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
August 3rd, 2010 |
 EB-5 비자 관련 입증된 지역 센터 프로그램에 대해 올바른 정보를 얻은 한국 이민 가정
EB-5 지역 센터 프로그램이 미국으로 이민하는 한국인들에게 매우 잘 알려진 프로그램이긴 하지만 우려 사항 또한 있어 왔습니다. 이 우려는 한국 이민 가정에서 EB-5 비자 절차를 밟은 후 $500,000를 투자한 특정 프로그램과 관련해 발생한 법적 문제 및 소송이 발단이 되었습니다.
미국으로 이주하려는 한 한국 가정에서는 앞서 살펴본 가정과 같은 문제를 방지하기 위해 WhichEB5에 다양한 지역 센터 프로그램과 관련된 자세한 정보 및 지침을 문의하여 이러한 프로그램들의 긍정적인 면뿐 아니라 부정적인 면에 대해서도 알아보기를 원했습니다. 이 가정은 신뢰할 수 있는 장기간의 실적을 가지고 있으며 I-526 승인 및 I-829 조건 해지 후에 이전 클라이언트에게 자금을 전액 상환한 적이 있는(위의 경우 $500,000 투자금 전액) 지역 센터를 찾기 원했습니다. 이러한 조건을 모두 충족하는 한 회사를 찾은 후 이 가정은 해당 회사가 제공하는 프로그램에 성공적으로 지원할 수 있었습니다.
South Korean family successfully seek advice on EB-5 visa regional center program
Although the EB-5 regional center program had been very popular with South Korean citizens immigrating to the USA there have been concerns. These concerns were following reports of litigation involving Korean families, who had several years previously taken the EB-5 visa route and subsequently discovered legal issues relating to the particular program they had invested their $500,000 capital with. A South Korean family wishing to relocate to the USA had therefore contacted WhichEB5 for guidance on the latest position regarding the various regional center programs, as they wanted to be informed of the negative details as well as the positive details of the various programs, so that they were aware of the issues that had clearly caused difficulties for the families above. The family wanted to identify regional centers that had not only a reliable and long term track record but had also repaid previous clients funds in full i.e. returned the full $500,000 investment following the granting of the I-526 approval and the removal of conditions at the I-829 stage. A company was identified that met all these criteria and the family successfully applied for a place on their program.
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Tags: eb-5, I-526, I-829, Korean, regional center, South Korea, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
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 28th, 2010 |
 A businessman with interests in Oman and the UK used our services to understand the EB-5 visa and to gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the various regional center programs. He wanted to focus on real estate opportunities and was looking at a long term time frame. After going through the options he opted for a well established center with a wide range of diverse developments. He successfully applied for the visa and is shortly due to have the conditions removed (I-829)as he has held the conditional visa for coming up to two years. We have continued to keep in touch and checked out issues that have cropped up with him for the benefit of new investors.
Read more EB-5 Success Stories here
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Tags: eb-5, I-829, Oman, regional center, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
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