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 Last week we received a phone call from a gentleman who we had not heard from for several months. We thought he had decided not to go ahead with plans to move to the USA on the EB-5 visa.
After a lengthy conversation with him it turned out that when he first spoke to us his preferred choice of EB-5 regional center did not have a project available and he was not ready to wait a few weeks for the release of their next program. Instead he had attended an exhibition, talked to some immigration attorneys’ and been persuaded to choose a certain EB-5 project.
His reason for contacting us again was that he had heard, shortly after this, that his original choice of regional center had released their long awaited project. This had later sold out in a short space of time and within an eight week period from first applications I-526 petitions had been granted. In contrast, the program he had decided on was still not closed and no I-526s had been approved.
Talking to him reinforced our view that it is important to stay rational when looking at the available EB-5 visa programs. At this point in time there are only a few programs that have an extended track record of achieving ongoing success at the I-526 and I-829 stage and repaying their first clients.
The majority of the EB-5 visa programs remain relatively untested; there are many regional centers that continue to struggle to attract enough clients to fully subscribe and close out their programs and other regional centers that focus extensively on selling their programs through networks of agents in China, some of whom are the subject of ongoing criticism on their selling techniques.
Well proven regional centers with a 100% record of success at I-526 and I-829 stages that have also repaid their earlier clients remain a rarity and tend to subscribe very quickly after programs are released. Well prepared EB-5 visa applicants often attach much importance to the quality of a regional centers track record and therefore are prepared to wait and stand by ready to go once a well proven regional center releases a program.
To be kept up to date on the positive and negative aspects of any EB-5 regional center programs contact Which EB5
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