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December 29th, 2011 |
 My name is Anthony Olson, and I am a lawyer who operates an immigration law practice with offices in Sarasota and Fort Myers, Florida. The following information includes my analysis of certain aspects of the Regional Center program that you should consider in seeking to optimize your chances of success in the United States immigration process. Also included is a discussion detailing the process of applying for permanent residence in the U.S. through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program.
Please understand that any information contained herein do not constitute legal advice, nor investment advice, nor a due diligence report of any kind, and that your receipt of, and or use of, this information does not by itself create an attorney-client relationship.
What is a Regional Center? A “regional center” is defined by the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) as “an entity, organization, or agency” that USCIS has approved as a designated Regional Center for the investor pilot program. Under the federal statute authorizing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program, an approved Regional Center can be any public or private economic unit whose purpose is to seek “to promote economic growth through export sales, improved regional productivity, creation of new jobs, and increased domestic capital” as explained within the USCIS website. Each Regional Center focuses specifically on a defined geographic area of the United States, and positively affecting the general welfare and economy of that area by attracting capital investment. Regional centers are typically located in targeted employment areas or rural areas, so as to offer qualification with a $500,000 investment, but there are regional centers in some U.S. locations where a $1,000,000 investment is required in order to qualify. The organization that holds the Regional Center designation generally operates by forming limited partnerships to engage in specific business projects designed to accomplish at least one or more of the above-stated purposes of the EB-5 Pilot Program. Most typically, the focus is on job creation, because that was Congress’ primary purpose in creating the program. The organization also typically serves as the managing general partner for each such limited partnership, while the investors are limited partners.
Tomorrow we will cover: The importance of conducting your own Due Diligence
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Tags: due diligence, eb-5, EB-5 Visa, immigrant investor, immigration law, pilot program, regional center, uscis
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
January 6th, 2010 |
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One of our EB5 clients, Brian Thompson, was recently featured on (NPR) Public Radio – Below is a transcript from part of the interview with him which was covered on the Morning Edition.
“News of job creation programs has been widely reported lately, but there’s one program that many people have never heard about: Under U.S. immigration law, foreigners can invest in an American business and, in exchange, receive a green card.
This has long been a small, obscure program, but as domestic sources of financing have dried up, the number of EB-5 visas issued this way has tripled in the past year.
For investor Brian Thompson and his wife the motivation was to leave England for a place with better weather. A few years ago they put $500,000 into the redevelopment of a Seattle warehouse that is being turned into a hotel. Once it opens Thompson hopes to make his money back and then some. But the immigrant investor program requires a certain degree of risk, and if the business venture falls through, so do the green cards.
That would be the worst-case scenario,” Thompson says. “We’d be stuck in England, left without the pot of money that we’d worked all our lives for.
But so far the hotel project is on track. And since you don’t have to live where you put your money, Thompson and his wife are happily retired in Florida.
Half a million dollars is the minimum required — an investment in a more competitive area must be $1 million — and across the country, government-approved consultants have popped up to help match this foreign money with American companies.
Immigration attorneys say a big motivation for many investors is to educate their children in the U.S., since a participant’s entire immediate family also qualifies for a green card”.
More Which EB5 client success stories can be found by clicking this link now.
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Tags: eb-5, eb5, florida, green card, immigration attorney, immigration law, National Public Radio, npr, seattle, USA, visa
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
October 27th, 2009 |
How to Choose an EB-5 consultant
Choosing a consultant to guide you through the different EB5 regional centers programs can be an important first stage for potential EB-5 immigrant investors. Key points you need to consider include:
• Are the consultants truly independent, or are they associated with a particular regional center, acting more as an agent of that center rather than providing impartial and independent advice?
• Do they charge you a fee?
• Have the Consultants actually visited the proven centers? By visiting we mean an in-depth look and review of the center, not just attending a conducted tour and arranging a photo opportunity.
• Are the Consultants doubling up as the Immigration Attorneys who are advising you?
If so there may be a conflict of interest and an ethical dimension which has been the subject of much discussion at the recent (American Immigration Lawyers Association) AILA conference in California. At this Conference leading specialist EB-5 immigration Attorneys advised that while Attorneys working with clients on the EB5 visa should obviously provide advice on immigration law, they should not necessarily be giving advice on the relative positive and negative aspects of the regional center programs.
• How many actual EB-5 immigrants have they advised, what is their success and failure rate?
• Which centers have they recommended? One or several?
• What is the range of information they provide?
It is all very well knowing who the directors of the regional centers are , what the track record of the regional centers is, and how many EB-5 visa applicants they have attracted, but all these facts miss far more important points that are critical in the current economic times.
• What is the difference between equity and loan based programs?
• What is their knowledge on economic and job creation methodology?
• Do they have links to the leading independent EB-5 immigration attorneys, economists, international chartered accountants and business attorneys?
Please feel free to email your questions or concerns on selecting an EB-5 consultant to: info@whicheeb5.com
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Tags: agent, AILA, American Immigration Lawyers Association, applicants, conflict of interest, consultant, eb-5, eb5, ethical, fee, immigrant investor, immigration attorney, immigration law, impartial, independent, job creation methodology, questions, regional center, visa, Which EB-5
Posted in Immigration | No Comments » |
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