January 23rd, 2012 |
 “I’m buying a green card”
Speaking with a potential EB5 visa client recently he made the statement above and followed it up with “I’m prepared to pay $500,000 for a green card”
It still amazes me, maybe it shouldn’t, that in certain countries around the world potential EB5 visa applicants believe that the EB5 visa process is about them buying a green card.
The gentleman I was talking to, the one who made the statements above, was convinced that, whatever his choice of EB5 program, he would never see his $500,000 again.
Let’s spell out the facts: The EB5 program is NOT a “Green Backs for Green Card” program no matter what certain anti-immigration movements would have you believe.
With careful guidance, adequate due-diligence and by making a decision based upon facts, you can and should expect to get your $500,000 back in a definitive time. In addition, you certainly should expect to not only get conditional green card but to have the conditions removed after about two years; meaning you get to keep your green card and are not forced to leave the USA because the regional center project you chose did not create the required number of jobs.
Let’s be clear here; with so many regional center projects fighting to get their hands on your $500,000 you need to be careful. You need to rely on some expertise from outside sources including established, independent EB5 consultants, and an experienced EB5 attorney BUT, you also need to keep a clear head yourself and take responsibility for the final decision about who you are going to trust with your $500,000. Not all EB5 projects are created equal, not all EB5 projects will make sense to you. Expect to go through some level of confusion as you look at project documents.
The EB5 pilot program is a job creation program for the USA. The US government would not have invested so much time and effort recently into making this program a success if it were simply a cash for green cards program. No one can guarantee you anything about the EB5 visa program (guarantees are specifically forbidden in the EB5 program) but I can assure you that the USA government, the ethical EB5 regional center operators and we at Which EB5 all want you to get and keep your green card AND get your $500,000 back within a reasonable time frame.
I am a first generation immigrant to the USA myself; I understand so many of the thoughts and motivations that go through your head once you have made a decision to make the USA your home. I made mistakes, I trusted advice from fellow countrymen (I can explain why that can be a very dangerous thing to do) and I have been through the USCIS immigration process; I can help you and will be glad to talk about things you should be paying attention to as you prepare for and make the move to the USA.
+Stephen Parnell 
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Tags: attorney, due diligence, eb5, EB5 visa, green card, green cards, Immigration, pilot program, regional center, US Government
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
January 13th, 2012 |
 Recently I heard a very sad story of a client, not a client of Which EB5 I have to say, who was rejected at the consular processing stage of their EB5 visa application.
Keep in mind that rejection at this stage typically means that your $500,000 is locked-up in your chosen regional center project for at least four years and you will soon see why experienced advice is necessary to avoid this issue.
The consular processing of your EB5 visa application comes after your I-526 is approved by the USCIS and before the US State Department actually issue your EB5 visa. This step is required if you are outside the USA when your petition is filed rather than adjustment of status if you are in the USA on an existing visa.
Many clients ask me questions about the consular interview process as they are, quite naturally, concerned about this “interview process”.
The clients of Which EB5 are fully briefed on what to expect at the consular interview by both myself and expert EB5 attorney Anthony Olson. It is important that when you head into the consular interview that you understand both the purpose and likely content of the questions you will be asked.
I tell my clients that in fact as long as they tell the truth, do not verbally or physically abuse the consulate officer they actually have nothing to worry about.
The story of the client that was rejected at the consular interview, the one I refer to above, (just a reminder that this was NOT a client of Which EB5) was apparently rejected for becoming verbally abusive. Now I don’t know the full details of what happened but you can be sure that this verbal abuse must have been quite extreme for the officer to finally deny the application.
The best general advice I can give to anyone facing the consular interview process is to tell the truth, keep calm and be very well prepared.
Clients of Which EB5 can get all the help they need to attend the consular interview with absolutely no concerns by having a free briefing session with expert EB5 consultants and attorneys.
To request all the EB5 visa information you need contact Which EB5 by email info@whicheb5.com or telephone +1-561-771-1330
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Tags: attorney, consular processing, EB5 Attorney, eb5 consultants, EB5 visa, regional center, USA
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
January 5th, 2012 |
EB5 Visa Exit Strategy (or) I Want My Money Back
An important aspect of investing in a regional center program is that the investor should have a well-defined exit strategy. However, the exit strategy cannot run afoul of the legal requirement under the EB-5 program that the investment be placed at risk without a guarantee; i.e., that there be no disguised redemption option to cash out before the conditions have been removed from the investor’s conditional permanent residence; and that the investment not be a loan disguised as an investment. The investor generally wants the fastest and easiest possible exit from the investment. However, one must bear in mind that USCIS’s policy requires that the investment be in place at least until the investor has removed the conditions from his conditional permanent residence. It is a legal requirement that the funds be placed at risk of partial or complete loss, just as any real business investment would be.
Tomorrow we conclude our latest series of: An Open Letter from an Experienced EB-5 Visa Attorney.
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Tags: attorney, conditional permanent residence, EB-5 Visa, exit strategy, uscis
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
January 2nd, 2012 |
 Today is part 3 of our Open Letter from an experienced EB5 Visa Attorney:
The job creation requirement
The job creation methodology is the single most important aspect to consider when examining regional center programs. In order for an investor to qualify for removal of the conditions from his or her conditional permanent residence, USCIS must be convinced, based on calculations presented by an economist using a reasonable methodology that sufficient jobs have been created, that is, 10 jobs per investor in the program.
Different regional center programs use different methodologies for calculating the number of jobs created. Some regional centers calculate the creation of “direct jobs” based on projections of the number of employees that tenants can employ per square footage of space depending on the use to which the tenant places the rented space, such as retail sales, office, light industrial, or warehouse, among others. The resulting number of employees/jobs is plugged into the economist’s model to produce the calculation of direct and indirect jobs created by virtue of the business consuming goods and services in the local economy.
Other regional centers determine the job creation by calculating all indirect job creation with an expenditure-based economic model. An example of this would be a regional center that makes loans to local and state governments, which use the funds as their matching funds in order to qualify for federal development grants to carry out construction and renovation of infrastructure to create and expand industrial parks and transportation/warehousing centers. The job creation figure is then calculated using a multiplier times the total amount of money spent on construction and renovation, including not only the regional center project’s loan funds but also the federal grant money.
Under the expenditure-based, indirect job creation methodology, the calculation of the job creation is much simpler. It is a matter of multiplying the total amount of money spent by the multiplier under the economist’s model. USCIS might be interested to verify the amount of money actually spent under the terms of the project, but there is no head count for determining the number of direct jobs created, since there are no direct jobs in the calculation, only indirect jobs.
Tomorrow we will cover: Consider factors that could keep the project from fulfilling the job creation requirement
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Tags: attorney, due diligence report, EB-5 Visa, investment advice, job creation, regional center, uscis
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
December 28th, 2011 |
 Over the next seven days we will publish, in daily segments, an open letter from an experienced EB-5 Visa Attorney.
Subjects covered will include:
If you are considering using the EB-5 visa program in 2012 you should not miss any of this information. Coming up tomorrow: What is a Regional Center?
+Stephen Parnell
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Tags: 2012, attorney, due diligence, eb-5, EB-5 Visa, exit strategy, immigrant investor, job creation, pilot program, regional center
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
December 19th, 2011 |
 Today we have published a very informative article on our Which EB5 website entitled:
Obtaining the EB-1 Green Card from L-1 Visa is Not Possible for Most Small Businesses
This article takes a long hard look at potential alternatives to the EB-5 immigrant investor visa and the risks that this particular alternative contains.
An extract from the article:
Many businesspeople, who plan to maintain a business in their home country, have started a small business in the U.S. with the plan to obtain permanent residence through the EB-1 Multinational Manager and Executive category. However, the majority of such people fail to reach the goal of obtaining permanent residence in this category. Why? The general answer is that USCIS’s decision track record in the EB-1 permanent residence and L-1 visa categories indicates that it believes that only the employees of large corporations are worthy of the green card in the EB-1 category, and eligible for extensions in the L-1 visa category.
To read the entire article simply click on the link below:
Obtaining the EB-1 Green Card from L-1 Visa is Not Possible for Most Small Businesses
Look out for more informative articles from EB5 Visa Experts in the days and weeks to come.
If you would like to speak to an experienced EB5 attorney and/or consultant, please feel free to email us at info@WhichEB5.com or call us at +1-561-771-1330
+Stephen Parnell
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Tags: attorney, consultant, EB-1, eb-5, EB-5 Visa, expert, green card, immigrant investor, L1, permanent residence, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
December 15th, 2011 |
 Yesterday was the last EB5 discovery day of 2011 and it was a great success – Thank You
Our EB5 discovery day meeting yesterday was a great success. I wanted to personally thank those who attended and especially those that stayed afterwards for one-on-one consultations. These new format meeting have been very succesful all year and we are going to expand the opportunity for you to attend in 2012.
During the first quarter of 2012 we will be holding our now famous EB5 Discovery Day meetings in the following cities:
- Beijing – China
- Miami – FL – USA
- Orlando – FL – USA
These discovery day meetings are designed for a small group of potential EB5 clients who want to get an in-depth overview of the EB-5 Visa program in a personal setting followed by personal one-to-one meetings with expert EB-5 attorneys and consultants. No fee is charged to attend any of our meetings. You can get more expert EB-5 visa information in this meting than is possible with investing a week on the internet.
If you would like to attend one of our 2012 discovery days please use the following links to request location and date information.
EB5 Visa Discovery Day in Beijing
Existing Which EB5 client
Not yet registered with Which EB5
EB5 Visa Discovery Day in Miami
Existing Which EB5 client
Not yet registered with Which EB5 Existing Which EB5 client
EB5 Visa Discovery Day in Orlando
Existing Which EB5 client
Not yet registered with Which EB5 Existing Which EB5 client
Those of you who are new to the subject of the EB-5 visa program may want to read the only guide written for the exclusive use of potential EB-5 clients “Green Card via the Red Carpet” available in hard-copy or Kindle direct from Amazon.
We look forward to meeting you and discussing your EB5 questions and concerns in 2012. In the meantime we are available for Video & Telephone consultations at any time by appointment. Please email our client services director here to set up an appointment.
+Stephen Parnell
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Tags: amazon, attorney, Beijing, china, consultant, consultations, Discovery Day, EB-5 Visa, eb5, exclusive, Green Card via the Red Carpet, investing, kindle, miami, orlando, USA, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
October 19th, 2011 |
 When faced with the mass of sales material available on the EB-5 visa, some potential applicants feel they need a select an immigration attorney as their first step in choosing between the nearly two hundred Regional Center options.
What some may fail to realize is that although they will need to use an immigration attorney to advise and prepare their visa application, immigration attorneys may not necessarily be their best choice to educate and guide them through the actual regional center program selection process.
There are a number of reasons for this:-
- Conflict of interest – If the immigration attorney is being paid by the applicant to carry out the processing of the application and is also being paid a fee by one or more regional centers to recommend their projects to the applicant then a conflict of interest may be a potential issue.
- Lack of detailed information – Has the immigration attorney actually visited and studied the regional center programs? Some of the strengths and weaknesses of various EB-5 programs only become clear after a detailed visit has been made to a program. However, many immigration attorneys have not had the time to do this and maybe limited in the amount of detailed information they can give.
- Levels of experience – Very few immigration attorneys have filed over one hundred EB-5 applications with The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), whereas others may not have filed any, or only one or two.
- Some immigration attorneys work exclusively, or almost exclusively, with particular regional centers, again raising the question as to whether there may be a potential conflict of interest.
Many who are starting the EB-5 process have found it useful to begin researching the EB-5 by reading the only published consumer guide on the EB-5 visa pilot program Green Card via the Red Carpet.
Which EB-5 can arrange for you to receive a free initial consultation with an expert EB-5 attorney; click the red “Stop” image above for full details.
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Tags: attorney, EB-5 process, EB-5 Visa, Green Card via the Red Carpet, immigration attorney, pilot program, regional center, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
September 30th, 2011 |
 If you are trying to learn as much as you can about the EB-5 immigrant investor visa it is important that you identify information that is completely impartial and independent. After all you may end up investing at least $500,000 for several years and trusting the immigration status of your family to your choice of a Regional Center program.
Unfortunately so much of the information you come across has a sales agenda, in other words you are being persuaded to invest in a particular Regional Center or use a particular Attorney. Sometimes the sales effort means too little attention is paid to the safety of your family’s immigration status and the safety of your $500,000 investment.
Before writing the only consumer book on the EB-5 Visa a great deal of research was carried out on the people and companies behind EB-5 Regional Center programs, EB-5 consultants and Attorneys.
This research identified a number of Consultants and Attorneys offering to provide advice on the EB-5 were also being paid by some Regional Centers to promote their programs and obtain clients to invest $500,000 per place.
It is important that the advice you receive on the EB-5 visa is beyond reproach and those giving the advice have not been disciplined by Federal and State Agencies, some currently offering advice have had action taken against them.
For further information on the EB-5 visa at no charge contact Chase Brodsky at Which EB5 for further details.
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Tags: attorney, consultants, EB-5 Visa, immigrant investor, investor visa, regional center
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
September 28th, 2011 |
If you are looking for Consultants to take you through the entire EB-5 visa process you require independent, impartial advice based on an extensive and 100% successful track record.
WhichEB5 have the following advantages that have made them the preferred choice with over 250 successful applicants from all over the world:
- Which EB5, unlike some other Consultants, do not charge you any fees for their services.
- Which EB5 have access to information from a number of regional centers, they do not work with only one or two programs.
- Which EB5 only work with individual clients, they do not advise, provide services or market regional centers for a fee. More and more Attorneys and Consultants are setting up or working with specific Regional Centers leading to potential conflicts of interest.
- Which EB5’s Managing Partners are themselves immigrants who have lived in The USA for twenty and eleven years each. They understand the issues and difficulties that are of concern to potential and new immigrants.
- Unlike many Attorneys and consultants WhichEB5 regularly visit different Regional Centers to determine the truth behind the sales claims. So many other companies do not visit the Regional Centers they are recommending or indeed advising against.
- Which EB5 have access to experienced attorneys, securities advisors, accountants and tax experts who themselves have many years of experience working with the EB-5 visa.
For a free consultation with one of our team of experts of more information contact Chase Brodsky at Which EB5.
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Tags: attorney, consultants, EB-5 Visa, eb5, regional center, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
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