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You may have come across a number of press releases, articles and sales promotion material claiming one or other regional center is the best or most successful. Some of you may simply put this down to either typical American salesmanship or the center spending to much time listening to the lyrics of that well known Tina Turner classic SIMPLY THE BEST – BETTER THAN ALL THE REST.
As consumer advocates for those considering EB-5 options, we were interested to know how some regional centers come to the conclusion that they are the best. After all, from your viewpoint as potential immigrants, you may measure the best by the number of successful I-526 approvals, conditions removed at I-829 stage, return of capital, fewest requests for evidence (RFE’s), quickest approval times and even lowest costs.
We were curious as to which were the particular criteria, centers claiming to be the best, were referring to – was it all or some of these -
• The greatest number of I-526 approvals. It is interesting that one center claiming to be the best, even on its own investor figures, is actually far behind the two regional centers with the greatest number of I-526 approvals. Interestingly one of these two centers rarely advertises its programs as they are often fully subscribed shortly after launch.
• The greatest number of I-829 approvals. This may seem an important measurement but there is an argument to be made that past performance may not be a good indicator of future results; particularly when a regional center changes the type of program it offers.
• The greatest amount of political support; after all, if things go wrong, this may be important.
• Returning the largest number of investors capital. Less than a handful of centers have or are about to return investor capital. However, these centers are not claiming to be the best – it gets stranger and stranger!
• The best for creating jobs in a disadvantaged area. This is an important criterion for the US government but the flip side is it may not be advantageous to the viability of a particular program and thus cause complications with the exit strategy.
• The quickest application times; how often have we heard this!
• The fewest number of RFE’s.
For feedback on all our findings please see EB5-INFO
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