The road to obtaining an EB-5 Visa can be at times perplexing. This process can, at first, be tedious but all the detailed work will pay off in the future in the form of a permanent green card or even U.S. citizenship later on. In order to make sense of all the prerequisites, a good option is to retain an EB-5 consultant to help you make sense of all the prerequisites, forms, and expectations of the EB-5 Visa Program. Once you hire an EB-5 consultant, they will listen attentively to your goals and take into consideration the needs which you have expressed to them. Your EB-5 consultant will then be able to aid and advise you in devising a plan of investment that is tailored to your case. In this way you can be assured about the EB-5 investment choices you make.

When trying to find the right EB-5 consulting firm, be sure that the consultants are independent to avoid biased opinions. It is possible to request to view their Investor Consulting Agreement and see if the consultants will share with you information on the EB-5 projects that are available. While you are conversing with the consultants, you can gauge whether they have formed relationships with various regional centers; as a result of consultants and regional centers working closely over an extended amount of time, it would only be natural that the two would cultivate some sort of relationship with each other.

The EB-5 Investment Program is meant to be primarily an immigration program and an investment program second, however one must still be astute. The USCIS requires that the EB-5 investors’ funds must be labeled “at risk”. There can be no guarantee that the investor will receive the money that they invested back. This is why it is important to make sure you are making sound decisions or have a reliable EB-5 consultant on your side.

To find out more about the EB-5 consulting services that Exclusive Visas offers be sure to contact Fred Burgess or Joe Sloboda today and find out how we assist our clients with gathering information on a EB-5 Regional Center and the EB-5 Projects that are offered by that regional center.

In addition to receiving conditional permanent residency status, EB-5 Investors must also go through another process in order to lift their conditional status. The EB-5 investors will need to file their I-829 petition to remove the conditions on their conditional green card; this petition should be submitted to the USCIS between 2 to 4 months prior to the second anniversary of the I-526 approval. During this process the EB-5 investor will need to prove that the minimum investment required was effectively placed at risk and that the required jobs were created and maintained for at least 2 years.

Below are the numbers provided by USCIS during their January 23, 2012 stakeholders meeting, showing an increase in I-829 approvals:

USCIS received their highest level of I-829 petitions to date in 2011, with a total of 2,345 received as compared to only 768 in 2011 and 1,067 approvals granted by the end of Federal Fiscal Year 2011. It is very important to understand that in order for USCIS to approve these petitions; the investor must have held their conditional green card for two years. With that being said, these I-829 approvals are based on the I-526 petitions approved during Federal Fiscal Year 08 and 09 which were related to the investments made into the earlier projects in the EB-5 Program.

In the past year we have seen an astonishing increase in Regional Center approvals. We have been asked to consult a few of these new EB-5 projects and have encountered projects that do not meet our standards therefore; we have not recommended some of these projects to our clients. We have also seen false advertising of some projects; they paint a pretty picture to the immigration brokers abroad and offer them an abundant finder fee per investor they refer to their project. In most cases these immigration brokers do not have the knowledge to analyze the offerings they are presenting to their clients and they just see their compensation. Yes, more and more EB-5 projects are coming to the market but this does not mean that they are a safe investment for you. You as an investor will need to perform a lot of due diligence on the projects competing for your EB-5 funds before you make a sound investment. The data mentioned above does not guarantee your permanent green card.

The team at Exclusive Visas, LLC has extensive knowledge in the EB-5 industry and has consulted more than 165 investors worldwide. Our team of experts not only provides due diligence services but also guides EB-5 Investors in the completion and submission of their I-526 petition and also provides support to facilitate the approval of their I-829 petition.

If you are interested in learning more about the EB-5 Visa program or about our services please contact us at info@exclusivevisas.com  or call +1-954-727-9800.

The Exclusive Visas team will be trekking to China during the month of February. The intent of their trip is to meet with potential EB-5 investors and to establish new relationships with immigration brokers. The team is also attending and participating in the upcoming ‘Invest in America Summit and Exhibition 2012’.  Fred Burgess and Joe Sloboda will meet with prospective EB-5 investors and consult them on various opportunities available to them in the EB-5 visa program. These private meetings will focus on the benefits of the EB-5 program, which provides a road to permanent residency for foreign nationals seeking to immigrate to the United States and how to fulfill the strict requirements under USCIS regulations.

The United States EB-5 Visa program is a federally approved immigration program that provides conditional green cards to qualified foreign investors who choose to invest in specific U.S. companies. These investments are used to create no less than 10 full time jobs in the United States for U.S. residents while providing an investment opportunity to the foreign applicant.

On their trip, Fred Burgess and Joe Sloboda, the founders of Exclusive Visas plan to visit cities which include:

If you are interested in learning more about the EB-5 Visa program or in meeting with Fred Burgess and Joe Sloboda, please contact Fred Burgess or Joe Sloboda of Exclusive Visas at +1-954-727-9800 or via email at info@exclusvievisas.com

I-526 petitions are filed to request the conditional permanent residency and are considered to be the first step for an Alien Entrepreneur to receive the immigrant status. According to the USCIS – Office of Public Engagement statistics from 2005 to January 12, 2012, there was an increment in the filing and approvals of the I-526 petition. As a result, the Program is able to account for more foreign direct investment available for American job creating enterprises than ever before.

    The tendency for the last 6 years on the approvals and denials of the I-526 Petition:     *YTD: year to date / **FY12 Q1: Fiscal Year 2012 from Oct 11, 2011 to Jan 12, 2012.

The increment in the approval of I-526 petitions might be justified by different reasons, one of them being the increment in Regional Centers approved by the USCIS and another being how globally integrated marketplaces now facilitate the exchange and migration of capital, resources and people across international borders.

Despite the programs recent success, the EB-5 Program is still due to expire September 2012 if Congress does not take action.  With estimates of over 100,000 U.S. jobs to be created and at least $10 Billion in direct foreign investment over the next 5 years, the U.S. Congress would be making a huge mistake by not voting to extend this beneficial program. 

To qualify as an immigrant investor under the EB-5 Investment Program, a foreign citizen must invest between USD $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on the unemployment rate in the geographical area. The investment must be made into a new commercial enterprise (business) in the United States which creates at least 10 new full-time jobs for U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or other lawful immigrants, not including the investor and his or her family.

If you are interested in learning more about the EB-5 Visa program or any other information about this kind of immigration investment, please contact us at info@exclusivevisas.com  or call +1-954-727-9800

Last year’s Invest in America 2011 Summit was held in Guangzhou, China in March 2011 and was very successful with approximately 10,000 potential EB-5 investors coming to the two-day event.

This year’s Invest in America Summit will be held in one of China’s largest cities – Shanghai. Shanghai is located on the eastern coast of China and has a population of over 23 million and it is a vibrant, energetic city welcoming domestic and foreign investors alike. The Huran Research Institute, which is based in Shanghai, reports in their 2011 rich list that a first time record of 271 billionaires has been reached.

“Chinese interests in overseas real estate and immigration are getting stronger. The report also indicates that about 27% Chinese billionaires have involved emigration investment” – China’s Private Wealth Report 2011

The 2^nd annual Invest in America 2012 Summit is scheduled for February 25^th and 26^th in Shanghai at the Shanghai Centre.

Shanghai is the perfect host city for the Invest in America 2012, USA-themed, Summit which welcomes a plethora of experts in the fields of U.S. EB-5 regional centers, investment project developers, international trade agencies, and real estate brokerage firms just to name a few. This year’s Summit is expecting numerous amounts of ambitious Chinese investors seeking information on the EB-5 Visa Program and whether or not they qualify for the EB-5 Visa.

To qualify as an immigrant investor under the EB-5 Investment Program, a foreign citizen must invest between USD $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on the unemployment rate in the geographical area. The investment must be made into a new commercial enterprise (business) in the United States which creates at least 10 new full-time jobs for U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or other lawful immigrants, not including the investor and his or her family.

If you are interested in learning more about the EB-5 Visa program or in attending the Invest In America 2012 Summit, please contact Joe Sloboda of Exclusive Visas at +1-954-727-9800 or via email at info@exclusvievisas.com.

January 24, 2012 – Richard M. Sakoda, licensed attorney in Hawaii and CEO of Sino-Hawaii Association, a foreign registered entity in Tianjin, China, since 2005, has joined Exclusive Visas as a senior consultant.    Richard M. Sakoda will bring to the position over 25 years of legal, business and working experience with international clients from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and China.

Being born and raised in Hawaii, partly educated in California, with its multitude of residents from all over the world, Richard M. Sakoda has developed a deep respect and understanding of the many different cultures in Hawaii and in California.   It is this understanding, as well as, through his many years of dealing with international clients; he is able to serve the needs of clients interested in applying for an EB-5 Visa Program.

The EB-5 Visa Program began in accordance with a Congressional mandate aimed at stimulating economic activity and creating jobs for U.S. workers, while simultaneously affording eligible aliens the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents. Through this innovative program, foreign investors are encouraged to invest funds in an economic unit known as a Regional Center.

To qualify as an Immigrant Investor under the EB-5 Investment Program, a foreign citizen must invest between U.S. $500,000 and $1,000,000, depending on the unemployment rate in the geographical area. The investment must be made into a new commercial enterprise (business) in the United States which creates at least 10 new full-time jobs for U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or other lawful immigrants.

At Exclusive Visas we believe that with Richard’s expertise in the Asian realm, he will be able to provide us with more insight on how to draw the attention of foreign investors who may be interested in the EB-5 Investor Visa Program. We are proud of Richards’ accomplishments and clientele.

                        If you are interested in learning more about the EB-5 Visa program or if you would like to become a member of our team of EB-5 Experts, please contact Joe Sloboda of Exclusive Visas at +1-954-727-9800 or via email at info@exclusvievisas.com.

The EB-5 program issued 3,706 visas this year through Sept. 12, which was 3.6 times the number it issued for all of 2007, according to the program’s overseer, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS.

This year’s tally so far is 97 percent greater than it was for all of last year, but down 12 percent from 2009, the program’s busiest year.

Investors’ funds are typically invested through regional service centers, operated by developers who often use them for their own projects. They also conduct operations through third parties who know the EB-5 process, which would include local lawyers and consultants, some of whom raise money for investments.

Some foreign investors are so interested in getting their U.S. citizenships that they have been accepting annualized rates of return of 1 percent or less on their investments and no guarantee about how much of their investment would be returned after a developed project is sold. The project terms typically stipulate that the investors will be paid off when it is sold or its developer gets fresh financing for it.

“For EB-5 investors, the rate of return is not the key issue; the key is the Green Card and the strategy for exiting the investment,” said H. Ronald Klasko, of the Philadelphia law firm Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, an immigration law specialist that advises developers on qualifying projects for EB-5 funding.

“These people are not investing in real estate as much as they are investing in the American Dream, because $500,000 is not a high price for citizenship for their families,” added Fred Burgess, president of Exclusive Visas, a Weston, Fla., firm that also advises on registering projects for EB-5.

EB-5 investors can provide equity or debt financing and usually cash out of their deals after five years. Terms of the investment returns are set by the developers, and must be outlined in detail in prospectuses that developers or their agents provide in marketing efforts that typically take place in the investors’ home countries.

EB-5 funds can be co-invested with financing from other sources. And there’s no limit to how much of a project could be financed with EB-5 money.

American Life Inc., a Seattle developer, initially used EB-5 to fund only 50 percent of the costs of its projects in the 1990s, but since 2008 has used it to fund all of its projects. Henry Liebman, founder and chief executive, said the firm’s most recent EB-5 deals provided foreign investors 70 percent of the rental stream from the projects and 70 percent of the proceeds from their sale.

American Life has used the program to fund all or parts of 44 projects with a combined cost of about $750 million in its local market area and plans to use it to expand into markets nationwide.

Marina Fooksman - Author

Given the recent political events unfolding in Russia, which have caught the attention of international media, global leaders, and Russian citizens, our office, Fooksman Law Firm P.C., has been flooded with inquiries from our Russian-speaking clients who are concerned about the volatile political situation in their home country.   As a result of the recent unrest and instability, many are looking for opportunities to secure a stable and prosperous future for themselves and their families.  For most, immigration to the United States is a lucrative and highly desirable option.

In general, there are two basic ways to obtain legal immigration status in the United States.  A foreign-national can either apply for a temporary visa or permanent residence (commonly known as a “green card“).   A temporary visa allows an individual to stay in the United States for a specific, often very limited, period of time and always for a specified purpose. In contrast, permanent residency allows an individual and often his immediate family to live in the United States on an ongoing basis with many privileges and almost no restrictions.  

As such, permanent residence is the preferred option by many individuals and their families as compared to getting a temporary visa.   Permanent residence allows a foreign-national to live in the United States indefinitely, does not require constant renewal of a visa, provides automatic work authorization, and allows to petition for relatives.  Additionally, once an individual has been a permanent resident for specified period of time, he or she can apply to become a United States citizen.

There are a number of ways of obtaining permanent residence: through an immediate family member, through an employer, diversity lottery, political asylum, or through investment.  Most of these options require that a foreign-national be sponsored by an immediate relative or an employer and almost all involve a lengthy and cumbersome process.  Significantly, a lot of these options rely on the quota availability for a particular visa and many employment and family-based categories are delayed for years, even decades, due to the backlog of government processing.

However, what happens to those individuals and families who wish to live in the United States but do not have the requisite family relationships or potential employers who are willing to engage in a laborious process of petitioning for them?  For many, the most appropriate option to obtain permanent residence in the United States would be through an investment, also known as the EB-5 Visa Program.  The EB-5 Category is an excellent and often the fastest and most secure path for many foreign nationals and their immediate family members (spouses and unmarried children under 21) to become permanent residents of the United States.

There are three distinct sub-categories within the EB-5 Immigrant Visa Category, which will qualify an investor for permanent residence.  Each sub-category differs in its requirements with respect to the amount of investment, job creation, and management of the investment business.   

Below is a brief overview of each category:

EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program (“Regional Center”)

A $500,000 investment in a designated regional center program with the regional center program managing the day-to-day business and providing direct and/or indirect creation of ten jobs based on calculations by an economist using a reasonable methodology that is accepted by USCIS;

EB-5 Targeted Employment Area (“TEA”)

A $500,000 investment in a business owned and operated by the investor, with the investor showing the creation of ten new, full-time, permanent jobs (employees of the investor’s own business) in a “targeted employment area,” which is defined as a rural area (with a population less than twenty five thousand) or as a high-unemployment urban area (with an unemployment rate that is 50 percent or more above the national unemployment rate); or

EB-5 Standard Program

 A $1,000,000 investment in a business owned and operated by the investor, with the investor showing the creation of ten new, full-time, permanent jobs (employees of the investor’s own business) in any location that does not qualify as a targeted employment area.

Obviously, there are quite a number of very important and serious considerations that must be taken into account when deciding between investing in the EB-5 standard program and the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program (“Regional Center”) and every individual must make a well-informed and sound decision that is most appropriate for his or her circumstances.  In general, however, our experience shows that for many foreign nationals applying under the standard EB-5 program proves to be a complex undertaking.   This is based on the fact that the standard EB-5 program involves the highest level of required capital investment; it calls for the highest level of investor involvement in the day-to-day management of the business; and it is often difficult to fully and properly satisfy the direct job creation requirement.  On the contrary, investment under the EB-5 Regional Center program is considered more secure and less cumbersome.  For example, the required investment is substantially less; the regional center programs do not require direct management by the investor on a daily basis; and in regional center programs, the investor is not directly responsible for requisite job creation – instead, it is the responsibility of the regional center.  For these, and other reasons, many foreign nationals choose immigrating through investment in a regional center, which offers a potentially less risky, more definite and simplified process for investing and achieving U.S. permanent residency.   

Overall, however, many of the critical choices in determining which path to undertake revolve around highly personal decisions and circumstances.  While there may not be right or wrong answers, there are certainly important considerations and critical choices that will impact an investor’s quality of life in the United States.  Each of these considerations must be properly evaluated and thought-out in order to select the EB-5 program option that is most appropriate.  As such, we invite our readers to seek knowledgeable and experienced professional counsel as they contemplate which options are best suited for them. 

That said, what are the duties we owe our clients when it comes to examining the terms of the Regional Center project they have chosen as their ‘qualifying investment’? If we have done our jobs well (protecting ourselves) then the Clients will have reached their own decision as to where and with whom to invest at least $500,000 and pay an administrative fee of between $25,000 and $50,000.

But are we selling ourselves (and our Clients) short? Can we not honor our duty and at the same time protect ourselves from liability?

In my experience, a very small percentage of EB-5 investors actually read the Offering. Many are not aware of how and when they might expect a return on their investment, let alone an exit strategy. In this regard, USCIS has created a ‘perfect storm’ and its restrictive interpretation of the phrase “at risk” has given unscrupulous Regional Center promoters the opportunity to mislead and confuse, so that investors are led to believe that somehow, after a magical period of 5 years, the investor will receive the return of his or her principal but that this cannot be guaranteed or even described in the offering. “When the time is right it will simply present itself”.

Many investors are led to believe that they will receive a significant return on their investment and many believe yet still that this return will manifest itself as soon as they have invested. The truth is that most Regional Center projects will have paid little or nothing by the time the investor comes to apply to remove conditions. In fact, in many cases, the subscription is not filled by the time the I-829 Petition is filed and so the project is not complete.

As an EB-5 investor myself, I invested on the basis that I was gaining for myself and for my family a new life in the US and that, beyond condition removal, I may not receive either a significant return on my investment or, indeed, even a return of my principal. I can ill-afford to lose $500,000. However, I was realistic in my expectations and, having invested in 2006, the world economic recession has obviously had an impact. It may be some time before I see a return of my $500,000 if, indeed, at all.

I tell my clients that in selecting a Regional Center project they should expect three things (the first two being important, the third less so):

     Author: BEN WOLFORD - Naples Daily | 17 Dec 2011

PORT CHARLOTTE — Along a weedy, forgotten waterfront, Allen Heise is investing more than $40 million to build an upscale marina, complete with a rooftop heliport. Once built, it will be a glamorous and lonely centerpiece in an area he says is “gonna hit.”

His waterfront renaissance, with its promise of 500 jobs, would lift a depressed sliver of Port Charlotte near U.S. 41 and Harbor Boulevard that has 27.8 percent unemployment, the county reports.

And while Heise, 50, of Port Charlotte, said he could pay for the project with domestic means, he has instead tapped into a federal investment visa program, or EB-5, that already has infused $1.5 billion in new foreign cash into the country over two decades.

Heise will rely on 80 Chinese and Western European investors who will each pay $500,000 in exchange for conditional U.S. visas, made permanent after two years if they can prove they created at least 10 jobs.

While others wait years for residence visas, these wealthy foreign nationals will wait about eight months.

Of course, the investment visa program, created as an economy booster by Congress in 1990, has critics. Some, including Heise and others who run “regional centers” that funnel investments into projects, say the risk is too high for investors, who are left utterly without protection. Others attack the notion of selling green cards.

“I think that it’s in bad taste for us to be a great big powerful nation selling access to our country at $500,000 apiece,” said David North, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, where this month he testified about the weaknesses of the program before a Senate committee.

The regional center component of the program, which enabled the Charlotte Harbor Marina project, will expire in September unless Congress renews it.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has approved 20 regional centers in Florida and 204 in the United States, all of which serve as public or private economic entities that link investors to projects. Some, like Heise’s Charlotte Harbor Regional Center, directly oversee an undertaking. Others behave like fund managers, channeling money to associated developers.

The Florida Overseas Investment Center, a regional center with offices in Tampa, directs investors’ money into three construction projects in South Florida and a mutual fund that, in turn, routes capital toward grocery-store projects, said its director, Roy Norton. He said it isn’t difficult to track job creation.

“The people that are investing and are moving their families are relying on us,” Norton said.

The regional centers have become the main flash point in the debate. Critics say their projects receive little federal scrutiny.

Once an investor gives $500,000 and undergoes background checks and an investigation into the source of the money, his or her entire family can enter the United States. But the investor may never see a return, and if the regional center cannot help the investor demonstrate that 10 permanent jobs were created, the government can refuse to remove the conditions on their visas at the end of two years.

“If I didn’t think we could create those jobs, I wouldn’t do it,” said Heise, who also said his investors will see their money back.

Heise, known in Naples as a developer behind CocoBay and Grand Bay at Pelican Bay, said his investors are serious about half-a-million dollars and a shot at American immigration. All of them knew Heise’s reputation through previous business dealings, and they all hire lawyers to review the stacks of pages in Heise’s business plan.

He said one reason his investors committed is that they like his idea: fractional boat ownership. Members will pay upward of $30,000 for the partial ownership and occasional use of any of the marina’s dozens of boats.

Some states have raised the banner of investment visas, hailing the potential job gains. Federal immigration officials estimate the program has led to 34,000 jobs.

In Maine, state economic officials have opened the way for a statewide, state-run regional center. They hope to match the success of the Jay Peak Resort, a ski resort in a depressed area of northern Vermont that U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has hoisted as the program’s poster child. More than 500 foreigners have invested $250 million into the company.

One of them is Anthony Korda, a Naples immigration attorney from London.

“The $500,000 investment is the tip of the iceberg,” said Korda, 50.

Finding it increasingly difficult to leave vacations in Naples, he invested in Jay Peak five years ago and moved to Southwest Florida, where he bought a condo, a house, two cars and is putting his children through school. The subsequent consumerism leads to more job creation, he said.

From an office on Immokalee Road, Korda now helps other investors secure EB-5 visas, including through the Jay, Vt., and Charlotte Harbor regional centers.

In 2006, when Korda invested, the U.S. issued 744 EB-5 visas. In the first three quarters of this year, it issued an estimated 3,706 — a spike, but still nowhere near the 10,000 annual cap on the program.

To promote it, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is streamlining its services, including expedited processing and freeing up its immigration experts to meet with investors.

Gov. Rick Scott, for whom creating jobs is a raison d’etre, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, support the program. A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio couldn’t be reached to say whether he will vote to extend the regional center pilot when it comes up for renewal next year.

A spokesman for Mack issued a statement saying: “He supports the spirit of the program, but would need to review any legislative language to extend the program.”

Scott hasn’t promoted investment visas with the same public flair as some elected officials in New England, and foreign investment isn’t expressly identified on his seven-step jobs agenda. But his office said he wasn’t neglecting the EB-5 visa. While Scott was in Israel last week, Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic arm, gave a presentation on investment visas.

“Gov. Scott promotes all types of visa programs that might help create jobs, including the EB-5 visas,” spokesman Lane Wright said.

In Port Charlotte, pylons supporting new decks jut out of a Charlotte Harbor inlet. The dredging is complete, Heise said. A crane and two excavators on site remain some of the only signs of new construction along a sparse commercial strip.

“It’s gonna hit,” Heise said. “There’s no doubt about it. There’s so much waterfront.”

He expects the marina to open for business sometime in 2013. Ultimately, the regional center will expand, taking on new projects and leading to perhaps more than 1,000 jobs, he said.

Re-posted by Exclusive Visas