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EB-5 News Archive for May, 2010
When foreign investors are considering participating in the EB-5 visa program and want to do so through an EB-5 regional center, it is important for them to review the types of projects in which the regional center is involved.
The YK America Regional Center operates in Southern California with a specific eye toward developing retail shopping centers. The regional center believes that major store chains are vital to anchoring these centers.
“Commitments from major retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe’s, Costco and so on build the brand credibility of a shopping center development and cause it to increase in value,” the EB-5 regional center’s website said.
These new retail centers may be best way for developers to encourage people to visit brick-and-mortar stores with the rise of internet shopping. The shopping centers have virtually everything a consumer may want to buy, which could motivate them to go out to make their purchases instead of making them on their computer.
Regardless of what specific industry an EB-5 regional center is involved in, it is important for investors to research them to ensure they are investing their money in something they believe in.
President Barack Obama appears ready to reopen discussions of immigration reform in the wake of his deployment of 1,200 National Guardsmen to the U.S.-Mexico border.
Obama sent the Guardsmen to the border as part of a plan “that was actually shaped last year,” according to the Dallas Morning News. Critics of the deployment have called it inadequate and a mere political gesture.
The president acknowledged that the troops and the proposed additional funding allocated for border security would not be sufficient to fix the problems America is experiencing with immigration. Obama said that reform will require “an orderly, fair, humane immigration framework in which people are able to immigrate to this country in a legal fashion, employers are held accountable for hiring legally present workers.”
Calls for reform have been louder than ever because of the recently passed immigration law in Arizona, that makes it a crime to be in the country illegally.
Advocates for immigration reform will hope that it is as successfully executed as the EB-5 visa program, which allows foreign nationals to earn U.S. green cards if they invest $1 million in an American business and that investment leads to the creation of 10 new jobs.
The EB-5 visa program is an attractive way for foreign nationals to earn U.S. green cards because it is a straightforward and relatively short route towards living in America. Citizens of one nation in particular has been taking advantage of the EB-5 visa program to get into the country.
China is an emerging economic super power, and as such there are many people in the country who have the money an EB-5 investment opportunity requires and are hoping to use it to take up residency in America. On the other end of the EB-5 visa program, many EB-5 regional centers target Chinese investors precisely because so many of them have the money to spend and are interested in obtaining U.S. green cards.
Many of these EB-5 regional centers, particularly those on the West Coast, are seeing strong interest from China.
“The majority of the inquiries come from China,” Christina Lau, director of the newly opened California Wineries and Vineyards Regional Center, told the Contra Costa Times. “It’s amazing. Maybe they really have that much money to spend.”
While some EB-5 regional centers don’t receive as many direct inquiries from China, they are instead targeting Chinese investors for their projects. Such is the case of the recently opened regional center in Lansing, Michigan, where the mayor told the Lansing State Journal that the city is looking for investors from China.
When foreign nationals who participate in the EB-5 visa program come to America to work on their investment, at times, it can be difficult to find a place to do business. Fortunately for such investors, an EB-5 regional center has solved that problem.
The East Bay Regional Center, also known as Golden State Renaissance Ventures, operates in Oakland, California, and has reserved office space for investors to conduct their business, according to the Contra Costa Times.
The EB-5 regional center is headquartered in Oakland’s Chinatown, making it a great spot for foreign investors to work.
“They can have assistants if they want to, or rent out a desk,” John Loh, cofounder of the EB-5 regional center, told the news source. “For Asians, this will be ideal. It feels like home. And once they assimilate, they can go live in Piedmont or Lafayette or Walnut Creek.”
According to Loh, the office space will be an excellent place for EB-5 investors to get a grasp on the American market.
The EB-5 visa program allows foreign nationals a chance to become eligible for U.S. green cards if they invest $1 million in a U.S. business and that investment leads to the creation or preservation of 10 jobs.
Arizona’s recently passed immigration law will increase crime by putting police and immigrant communities at odds, according to several police chiefs from major U.S. cities.
The police chiefs from Los Angeles, Houston and Philadelphia, along with others from various cities are planning on meeting with U.S. attorney general Eric Holder to discuss the current immigration climate, reports the Washington Post.
Arizona’s new law makes being in the country a crime and requires police to inquire about people’s immigration status if they suspect they are in the country illegally. The chiefs believe the new law will intimidate witnesses and crime victims who are illegal immigrants from cooperating with authorities and also distract police from investigating serious crimes.
“This is not a law that increases public safety. This is a bill that makes it much harder for us to do our jobs,” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told the news source. “Crime will go up if this becomes law in Arizona or in any other state.”
Those who participate in the EB-5 visa program don’t have to worry about such laws because they can become eligible for their U.S. green card by investing $1 million in an American business, if that investment leads to the creation of 10 jobs.