Why you need to be careful choosing your EB-5 investment visa advisor

If you are considering the EB-5 investment visa you may have noticed there are a number of “Advisors” offering their services, to assist you in determining which may be the most appropriate regional center to match your specific requirements. Having recently had a book published on this subject we have looked at the points you may want to consider guiding you through the potential minefield.

There have been a number of instances where potential EB-5 investors have only focused on one aspect of the regional center / visa / investment process while ignoring other important issues. It is absolutely vital you do not get it wrong as you could risk losing your $500,000 investment, your visa, and face deportation minus your $500,000.

So here are some of the issues you may wish to check out regarding the selection of an Adviser / Consultant to advise you on the positive and negative aspects of different regional centers. Some advisors charge a fee; however, there are experienced independent advisors who provide a full service with zero fees to clients.

First, the all important point; has the advisor actually visited the leading regional centers multiple times?

It may be very important that they have recently spent time visiting and revisiting PROVEN regional centers. You need to know what is actually happening in the programs right now, not last year. These visits should be detailed. A short visit to say hello is not going to give an in depth perspective of what is happening at that center and neither is reading the centers sales brochure from behind a desk. Some advisors have not visited all, or indeed any proven regional center program.

There are some advisors who have never seen the Regional Center programs they are recommending; do they understand the issues arising in the areas of the U.S. where the Regional Centers are set up? Their knowledge of the Regional Center’s may simply be restricted to the sales information the Regional Center has given them. They may not be aware of issues happening behind the scenes that you need to be informed of before investing – including law suits – I-829 refusals etc.
 

• Does the advisor understand the complexities and intricacies of the job creation economic models of different programs?

Many investors fail to take sufficient interest in a primary condition required by the EB-5 visa; the creation of ten jobs? If this condition of job creation is not satisfied, even if there is a satisfactory return on capital, the immigrant could face deportation. Different programs have different job models however; we have identified problems when prospective EB-5 applicants have not been warned about these critical issues.

• Is the advisor sufficiently knowledgeable about which centers have programs that are currently subject to different types of litigation, or which advisor has been the subject of a Secret service investigation, or which programs have returned all funds and which some funds? These are all important, indeed critical, issues regarding the implications of your $500,000 and staying in the U.S.A.

• Does the advisor only work with investors? Or do they also advise the regional centers? If so are there concerns regarding possible conflict of interest?

• How much experience does your advisor have? Do they have a 100% success rate with well over 100 EB-5 investors gaining approval on different regional center programs?  – Experience can be extremely important. Do these clients come from at least 20 different countries, from all parts of the world – there are key reasons why this is important to you. There may be implications if all their previous clients come from just from one country.

• Do these clients have a wide range of requirements i.e. retirement, seeking a business, work transfer, alternative to H1-B, E2, L1, Student visas etc?.

• Has the advisor been operating long enough for their investors to have obtained “Removal of Conditions” I-829?

• Has the advisor worked with a number of leading EB-5 immigration attorneys? Which of these attorneys have written books on the legal aspects of the EB-5, have given training seminars to other immigration Attorneys, and are seen as leading experts in this complex field?

• Has the advisor attended regularly attended the various briefings and meetings on the EB-5 including those with USCIS officials, to fully understand and keep up to date with how this visa works?