EB-5 Fundamentals

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EB-5 Investing A Quick Reference Guide about the EB-5 Program 3455 Peachtree Rd. NE Suite 500 Atlanta, GA 30326 p. 404-602-0012 Skype: ismael.fernandez.greengate [email protected] www.greengateplans.com

description

A quick reference guide to the EB-5 program, its benefits and how to properly take advantage of it.

Transcript of EB-5 Fundamentals

Page 1: EB-5 Fundamentals

EB-5 Investing A Quick Reference Guide about the EB-5 Program

3455 Peachtree Rd. NE Suite 500 Atlanta, GA 30326

p. 404-602-0012 Skype: ismael.fernandez.greengate

[email protected] www.greengateplans.com

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How to use this Quick Reference Guide

This guide is intended to quickly educate on the most important aspects of the EB-5 program to our audience,

including foreign investors, domestic entrepreneurs trying to raise funds under the EB-5 program, immigration

attorneys entering into the space, or starting Regional Centers. The content presented in this guide is somewhat

introductory but comprehensive, providing links to additional resources and documentation that will help the

reader to quickly learn critical aspects of the program independently and in an unbiased way.

The content of this guide is presented in seven different sections that may or may not apply to the specific

situation of the reader. Because of this, the reader is welcome to skip some of these sections to quickly learn

about the items of interest. Each section provides a few relevant references to continue reading beyond the

content here presented. Additionally, the last section provides with some of the best sources for EB-5 content

available on-line.

Any questions, feedback, or requests for additional information may be directed to the author via e-mail.

We hope you enjoy the content.

This Quick Reference guide is good for:

Foreign Investors contemplating the EB-5 program to invest in the U.S.

Domestic Developers seeking to raise capital using the EB-5 program

Regional Centers looking into hosting an EB-5 project

Immigration Attorneys looking to expand their practice into the EB-5 space

EB-5 Practitioners

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Table of Contents

I. How to use this Quick Reference Guide ............................................................... 1

II. Summary of the EB-5 Program ............................................................................. 3

III. EB-5 Direct Investment ........................................................................................ 5

IV. EB-5 Investment through Regional Centers ........................................................ 6

V. Fulfilling the Job Creation Requirements ............................................................. 7

VI. Targeted Employment Areas ................................................................................ 8

VII. What Domestic Developers Should Know ........................................................... 10

VIII. What Foreign Investors Should Know ................................................................. 12

IX. References and Resources .................................................................................... 13

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Summary of the EB-5 Program

The EB-5 program was passed by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 with the objective of

promoting the U.S. economy by leveraging funds of wealthy foreign nationals. Under this program, foreign

investors would invest a minimum amount of $1 million in a New Commercial Enterprise1, create ten jobs, and

obtain the Permanent Residence (Green Card) and eventually the U.S. Citizenship in return. The law however,

lowers the minimum investment to $500 thousand if the commercial enterprise and the job creation was going

to occur in a Targeted Employment Areas or TEA. The program has been modified several times since then

to promote certain areas and facilitate the investment process to foreign investors. In 1992 Congress approved

an extension of the EB-5 program to allow pooled investments under the Pilot Program. Under this program,

a USCIS approved Regional Center can raise domestic and foreign capital to develop larger projects, stimulating

the economy at a different level. Under this program foreign investors would not have to be actively

participating in the business and all applications can be streamlined by using the same attorneys, EB-5 service

providers, and application process.

Unfortunately, during the first ten years of existence, the EB-5 program was not as successful as originally

expected due to several reasons. In 2005 the General Accountability Office found that investors were not using

the program due to its complexity, long wait times, and low success rate. This, coupled with malpractice of

domestic developers who circumvented the law to offer U.S. Citizenship to investors placing contributions of

as low as $250,000 and relying on future capital expansions created a lot of debate and bad image around the

program.

Since 2011 a number of changes have been made to the EB-5 program to close loopholes and clarify ambiguities

in the law. Since then, the number of applications has been on the rise and the number of failures has been

lowered in proportion to the number of applications. While still caution has to be exercised by the investors,

the outlook of the program for foreign investors is positive as well as it is for the U.S. economy. The chart

below highlights the trend in number of applications, and approvals in the last five years.

1 NCE is defined by the Code of Federal Regulations as a commercial enterprise created after November 29th, 1990

-50%

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

EB-5 Application Trends

Petitions Received Approved

Denied Growth of Petitions Year on Year

Growth of Approvals per Year Growth of Denials per Year

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Interestingly enough, the growth of EB-5 petitions has increased rapidly from 2010 to 2012 and while the

increase towards 2013 is still appreciable, it has slowed down significantly. This is in part due to an existing cap

of 10,000 EB-5 visas per year and concerns that such maximum might be reached sooner rather than later by

just completing the backlog of petitions from previous years. When looking at the type of investment behind

the EB-5 applications, the U.S. Department of State 2 has publicly available data that breaks down the

applications by country, Regional Center vs. Direct, and TEA vs. non-TEA. It was found that in 2013, over 80

percent of the EB-5 applications came from China, over 90 percent were processed through a Regional Center,

and about 97 percent were located on TEAs.

The figure below provides some additional insight about EB-5 approvals in 2013:

EB-5 Route TEA Non-TEA Total

Regional Center 8,087 7 8,094

Direct Investment 227 243 470

Total 8,314 250 8,564

While this data is restricted to the applications approved, it is unclear however how many applications were

received on each of the segments presented in the table above. However it is safe to draw the conclusion that

the majority of investors seeking to

invest $500 thousand to obtain Legal

Permanent Status do so by placing their

investment in a Regional Center project,

while Direct Investment provides other

advantages for investors willing to place

$1 million, such as more control of the

U.S. company as well as more equity.

Below is a breakdown of countries other

than China where EB-5 investors came

from in 2013.

The EB-5 Program is more successful now than it was 10 years ago, but keep the following in mind:

There is a yearly cap on EB-5 approvals of 10,000, limiting growth of the EB-5 market

China is the main source of EB-5 investors with over 80% of the applications received

China is one of the only countries where migration agents help investors to invest overseas

Regional Centers have been more successful on attracting foreign capital

Investors looking for control of a US company will tend to avoid the Regional Center model

2 U.S. Department of State EB-5 Data available at: http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/AnnualReports/FY2013AnnualReport/FY13AnnualReport-TableV-PartIII.pdf accessed on June 2014

South Korea, 4.3%

Mexico, 1.7%

Venezuela, 1.1%

India, 1.0%Iran, 1.0%

Great Britain, 1.0%

Other Countries,

7.9%

Non Chinese EB-5 Approvals

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EB-5 Direct Investment

The EB-5 Direct Investment offers a lot of potential in both financial rewards and immigration benefits. As

seen in the previous section they are not as popular as the Regional Center. There are reasons for this, among

others, migration agents in China do not market projects that require less capital and provide them with less

return. Additionally, there is a lot more education required by the investor upfront before committing to a

business, whether it is existing or new as there is usually not a single intermediary that facilitates all the legal,

financial, and strategic planning required by the USCIS to approve the EB-5 petition. Many investors seeking

the EB-5 petition are afraid of committing to a petition that will lock their capital for up to two years and may

or may not work. Because of this we have seen a tendency of some investors to seek an investment visa such

as an E-2 with lower wait times, allowing to reside legally in the country earlier, and adjust to an EB-5 status

later down the road. There are some risks with this strategy that the investor should be aware of and we ask the

reader to consult with an immigration attorney to evaluate if this is an option. The following are benefits of

investing through the EB-5 Direct Investment route:

1. Full control of the investment

2. More transparency and visibility on how the capital is being used

3. More economic rewards, investors may purchase a company or a portion of it, be entitled to dividends,

salaries and other perks not available in the Regional Center model

4. Many times faster than a Regional Center if coached by the right experts

Not everything is much better with this modality, the following are some of the drawbacks that foreign investors

may see:

1. More time consuming on finding the right partners, attorneys, service providers, or even the business

2. All jobs have to be created directly by the U.S. company

3. Investor needs to be actively participating in the company

4. Hard to find good opportunities from overseas

There are service providers that are shaping their offerings to lower the hurdle of Direct EB-5 investments to

make it easier for both domestic companies looking for EB-5 capital and foreign nationals looking for reliable

ways to invest in the U.S. with more capital gains.

If you are evaluating to raise funds through the EB-5 program, or invest on a US business through the EB-5

program consider the following:

Direct EB-5 investments are not the only way to start a business in the US. Consider E-2, or L-1 visas.

Direct EB-5 investments may or may not be on a Start-Up, but have to be NCE as defined above.

Any intermediary in the investment of an existing US business needs to be registered with FINRA.

There is no limitation as to how to treat EB-5 investors (equity or loan) as far as their risk is minimized

and US jobs are created.

Franchises are a common investment vehicle for EB-5 investors.

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EB-5 Investment through Regional Centers

As observed in the statistics presented above, the majority of foreign nationals seeking Permanent Residency

status prefer to invest through the Regional Center model. This is not surprising for several reasons. Projects

behind Regional Centers are usually backed by solid and well-funded developers that can spend a great deal of

time and effort on marketing their project overseas. Because each single project involves a higher number of

EB-5 investors, you will find more service providers in the Regional Center arena, charging very different prices

for very different services. Finally, usually Regional Center projects are strategically designed to take advantage

of the TEA designation from the start, allowing most of the investors to obtain their U.S. residency with less

capital and less hassle. The following is a list of some of the most common benefits of the Regional Center

investment model:

1. Mostly situated in TEAs

2. A dedicated team of professionals handle the application process, so very little involvement from the

investor himself

3. Regional Centers can count the creation of indirect jobs through the use of an Econometric Study

4. EB-5 funds are not placed at risk until the application is approved

There are some drawbacks to this model that need to be fully understood by the investors and developers

considering a new Regional Center:

1. Depending on how the deal is structured, EB-5 funds cannot be used for the project development

until the approval of the I-526 is received. This means a period of a few months up to a year.

2. Foreign Investors have very little or no control over the investment

3. Return on investments are either zero or very small, depending on other risk factors.

4. If the application gets rejected, EB-5 investors will have to recover 100 percent of the deposited funds.

There are over 500 approved regional centers, but over 80 percent of them are not active.

There is more than one way to set up a Regional Center, depending on the maturity of the

underlying project and the short term vs. long term objectives.

Regional Centers advertise overseas (mainly in China) to expand their reach beyond domestic

means

Under a Regional Center model, EB-5 funds should represent no more than 40% of the total capital

needed for the project

Through Econometric Analysis, indirect job creation can be claimed, but is best to have at least

a 20% buffer on the results from the analysis

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Fulfilling the Job Creation Requirements

The EB-5 program requires the creation of ten full-time jobs in the U.S. A full time job is defined as a job in

which the employee works at least 35 hours per week. It is important to notice that for the purposes of this

program, full-time equivalent jobs cannot be counted towards this requirement. In other words, the USCIS

does not allow to combine part-time jobs to obtain a full-time figures. The law states that when an existing

business is considered troubled, the re-structuring of the company for EB-5 purposes, will not have to create ten

jobs, but preserve at least ten jobs. If the company staff size was lower than ten however, the new company

would have to preserve the totality of its staff and create the remaining jobs to reach the number of ten

employees. In the case of troubled business, the application would have to have CPA letter that certifies that

the business past performance pass the test.

The time frame for job creation is the two year period that last between the issue of the temporary Green Card

and the removal of the temporary conditions, known as I-829 application.

As mentioned before, the Regional Center investment method allows local developers to predict the economic

impact of the development in the geographical area where the project is located with the objective of providing

evidence of job creation beyond the direct hires. This is referred to as indirect job creation and is only allowed

in the EB-5 Regional Center model. To take advantage of this allowance, an economist needs to study the

impact of the new commercial enterprise in the region. The economist will use generally the amount of capital

to be invested, the list of affected industries and the geographical area to be impacted by the project and its

employees. There are several tools or models that economists may use for this study. Among them are IMPLAN,

RIMS-II, I-RIMS, REDYNE, or REMI. While it is out of the scope of this guide to get into the details of each

one of these tools, it should be noted that the most commonly used are IMPLAN, and RIMS-II or I-RIMS.

These last two share the exact same methodology, but use different data source. While RIMS-II relies on data

provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the I-RIMS model relies on the same data used by IMPLAN.

Here are some tips when getting ready to perform the Economic Analysis

Have an open mind about the number of jobs and EB-5 capital limits as Economists will be as fair

and unbiased to the EB-5 projects as possible.

Get an accurate Capital Expenditure table before you engage an Economist. This will avoid

having to re-do the analysis based on undesired results.

Many Economists offer a preliminary analysis before producing the final document, consider this

approach if you are still not sure how the project will evolve.

Never attempt to stretch the construction schedule of a project to go over 24 months to count

for construction jobs, the USCIS will see through this and turn down the application.

TEA designation restrict jobs to the local geographical region of the company while non-TEA

projects are not restricted to the locality of the business.

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Targeted Employment Areas

The concept of a Targeted Employment Area or TEA was developed along with the EB-5 program in 1990 to

assist on the economic development of remote or economically adverse areas, or both. The Code of Federal

Regulations, Title 8 Article 204.6 (e), defines a TEA as an area which, at the time of investment, is a rural area

or an area which has experienced unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average rate. A rural

area is defined by the same article, as an area not within a metropolitan statistical area as designated by the

Office of Management and Budget, or the outer boundary of any city or town having a population of 20,000

or more.

There are a few challenges observed by EB-5 practitioners, attorneys, and consultants when it comes to claiming

that a business will be in a TEA:

1. There is no federal standard, other than the clearly defined law above, on what unemployment data to use.

2. There is no clear process for submitting proof of evidence that the area is in fact a TEA 3. There is no federal agency that issues TEA designation, and therefore this designation, if available,

occurs at the state level with different government agencies taking the lead on a state by state basis.

Unemployment levels are measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor

on a monthly basis using the Current Population Survey (CPS) with a sample size of 60,000 households. This

is roughly 110,000 individuals scattered across the U.S. The Census Bureau then splits the country into 2,025

geographical areas and select 824 of these to represent every state. BLS performs surveys monthly within this

sample. This technique provides a fairly accurate view of the unemployment level in the U.S. at an average level,

but it is clear that fluctuations city by city and county by county are not well observed. Because of this, the

Census Bureau also performs the American Community Survey (ACS). This survey is the largest household

survey in the U.S. and arguably the most accurate when released but also the most time consuming. This survey

is updated yearly for larger cities, every three for smaller cities, and every five for areas in which population is

below 20,000.

The USCIS is aware of the differences on data accuracy, update periods, and assumptions behind each measure.

Because of this, it is accepted that when evaluating the threshold for TEA of 150% national average,

practitioners may use the last year national average rather than using the monthly U.S. unemployment rate. As

of June of 2014 the threshold based on the national average of 2013 was 11.1%. When determining the actual

unemployment rate at the local level, the applicant may use the ACS data which provides statistics on the more

than 74,000 tracts, the smallest geographical area tracked by the U.S. census, and updated every 1-3 years for

non-rural areas. Let’s recall that TEAs already include all rural areas regardless of unemployment levels.

If you find that your business is located in a tract in which the unemployment rate is not above the 150 percent

threshold, you may perform what we call a Geographical Alignment of Tract Employment Statistics (GATES)

study, also commonly known as gerrymandering. By doing this, you may group statistics of adjacent tracts to

qualify the region where the business will be established. This is a technique specifically approved by the USCIS

on the basis of fairness. Tracts tend to be rather small areas and it is quite unrealistic to think that all employees

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will reside in the same tract as the business. While GATES studies are allowed by the USCIS to seek TEA

designation, they are approved by the state on a case by case basis. Projects that group a large number of tracts,

or use unrealistic assumptions to qualify for the TEA designation, have a higher risks of not getting designated

by the State or revoked by USCIS. Additionally, every state has its own guidelines and limits on how to do this

study and what the process should be. As of May 30th of 2013, the USCIS made clear that it will not question

the authority of the state on granting a project TEA designation, except that it deserves the right to confirm

the information submitted. In any case considered tracts always need to be contiguous and logical.

While it doesn’t seem to be a standardized process at the federal level to obtain TEA designation, there are a

couple of options available. First, let’s remember that if the project is located in a rural area, there is no need to

request a letter from any authority regarding TEA designation. The project developer may provide the data

along with a letter to the USCIS as the law is very clear and simple in this regard. In the case in which the TEA

is claimed based on unemployment rates, the EB-5 petitioner, or project developer, may request a letter from

the local authority in charge of designating the project as in the TEA. Unfortunately the applicant would have

to do some research on who provides these designations in their particular state. One state in particular, New

Mexico, does not designate projects as TEA, while until recently, states like Nevada were TEA state-wide. Some

states have a streamlined process, while a handful of others will analyze the project on an individual basis.

Take away points for TEA designation

• Do not overlook the fact that rural areas automatically qualify.

• TEA designation applies to EB-5 Direct Investments as well as Regional Centers.

• The TEA designation follows a straight forward definition but the approval process varies a lot from state

to state.

• Unemployment data has to be carefully obtained and reasonableness has to be used when comparing

the local unemployment to the national level.

• Hire an expert to carry out the TEA designation process to mitigate the risks of rejection by the state or

the USCIS.

• If a GATES study is necessary, be reasonable in your assumptions, and seek the advice of an expert.

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What Domestic Developers Should Know

If you are leading a domestic business and are considering expanding your business using the EB-5 program it

is because you are most likely aware of the benefits of the EB-5 program for you. This section sheds some light

in some of the myths and highlights the benefits and risks for you as a domestic business developer. While the

EB-5 program provides great benefits to domestic firms that seek to expand operations and therefore would

like to access some capital, it is also true that the EB-5 program sounds better than it actually is. Before getting

into the hassles, however, let’s talk about the benefits and some of the things that you would have to have ready

as a developer.

If you are considering this program is most likely because you like the idea of not having to deal with a lending

institution, or selling part of the company to a domestic investor, venture capital firm, or angel investors. This

program is a perfect fit for you then, but only if you are willing to go through the bureaucratic process of an

EB-5 application, and the complexity of finding a foreign investor. So what are the benefits for you and how

you get them? First, just like in a business sale, it is up to you how you want to structure the offering, you may

set the EB-5 investment as a loan to be paid in different ways, with whatever interest rate you choose, or may

choose to sell a portion of your company for a period of two years until the investor becomes a lawful

permanent resident with a buy back strategy at a pre-determined price. In both cases, the domestic firm should

not provide any return on investment to the foreign investor until his conditional status is removed, which is

usually at about two years after the application has been approved and a temporary green card issued. This

allows the domestic company to have access to much needed capital, at a potentially low interest rate. Now,

this all sounds great, but way too many domestic developers attempt to go this route without looking at some

of the requirements and overseeing some challenges that make this process somewhat difficult.

1. The first question that needs to be answered is, is this capital for a commercial enterprise or a non-profit?

If it is for a non-profit, read no further, non-profit organizations do not qualify for the EB-5 program.

2. The second question is, how old is the business? If your business has not been founded yet or it was

established after November 29 of 1990, then your business is considered a New Commercial Enterprise,

and it qualifies for this program. If the business is older however, the capital expansion you are seeking

must be substantial as defined by the law3, which implies an increase by 40 percent in either net worth,

or number of employees.

3. Then, is your business considered a troubled business? To qualify for this, you will need a certificate from

your CPA showing that the enterprise has lost at least 20 percent of its net worth (book value) in the last

24 months. If this is the case, the company does not need to fulfill the jobs requirement as long as at

least ten jobs are kept in the business after the EB-5 investment. If the company had less than ten jobs

prior to the EB-5 investment, the remaining would have to be created.

3 Title 8 Article 204.6(h) of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

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4. If the New Commercial Enterprise is not troubled, are you going to generate at least ten (10) new jobs

within the next two years? Keep in mind that for each ten jobs you may qualify for an additional investor,

so 15 would still be one qualified EB-5 investor. If you are not, you should drop the idea right away.

5. Next, you should figure out whether your business is located in a TEA or not. If not, keep in mind that

your business will be limited to a minimum $1 Million investment level which is significantly less

appealing to foreign investors. If it is in a TEA however, you need to also keep in mind that the jobs will

have to be created within your company’s local area and within the TEA. For instance a call center that

uses one address to qualify for the TEA but employs people across the US would not qualify.

6. How much additional capital will you need? If you are considering above $10 Million and/or ten or more

EB-5 investors, you should consider using a Regional Center to host your project or open your own

Regional Center, it will be more cost effective, although not necessarily faster to use a Regional Center

to host your project. The USCIS has a list of over 530 Regional Centers available across the U.S.4

7. If you have resolved these questions favorably and still want to move forward with the EB-5 capital raise

strategy, is time to start building your investment package. To attract foreign investors, your package

should consist of a very presentable and marketable business plan. You may think of this as part of your

marketing plan. Your plan should highlight the structure of the deal and exit strategies after the investor

obtains their Lawful Permanent Resident status. Once you have generated enough interest, you will need

to fully develop your business plan to present it to the USCIS with a lot more detail and present it to

both, the USCIS and the EB-5 investor. It is at this stage to that you need to engage with an immigration

attorney to walk you through the whole legal process.

8. Time to find some investors. Finding the investors is one of the most difficult things you may face in

this process. This is purely a marketing exercise and the success of this phase purely depends on the time,

capital, and effort allocated to this phase. Some alternatives include EB-5 agencies in China, US Regional

Centers, EB-5 practitioners and EB-5 conferences. Dr. Finkelson has a great guide to help you find

investors in China through many different channels.

9. When dealing with international investors you need to make sure the fit is good for both parties, so a lot

of due diligence is necessary by both parties to make sure the relationship will be successful. Be prepared

to be as transparent as possible and ask as much as possible about potential investors.

10. Find an escrow company or bank that will work with EB-5 investments, there are not that many out

there, but having an investment in escrow while the application takes effect, will provide a much higher

level of confidence to your investors.

4 USCIS List of Immigrant Investor Regional Centers available at http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-fifth-preference-eb-5/immigrant-investor-regional-centers and accessed on July 15th, 2014

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What Foreign Investors Should Know

If you are an international investor looking to migrate to the U.S. under this program and obtain the U.S.

Citizenship this way, you should read further. The benefits of being a U.S. Resident aren’t measurable, but the

EB-5 application process is very time consuming and costly. As an immigrant, you will get the benefit of

obtaining the Lawful Resident Status in a legitimate way; as an investor, you may or may not like the financial

outcome of this strategy. The decision on what to do depends on how much capital you have available to invest,

how much of the business you want to manage directly, and how much you care about your investment versus

the value you place to the US Resident permit. There are two main strategies highlighted in this document

already, they are the Direct Investment and the Regional Center model. Regardless of which method you end

up choosing, these common elements need to be taken into consideration prior to going the EB-5 route.

1. You will be placing an investment at risk and therefore you might lose all of your money. This is

unlikely but still possible.

2. What appears to be a pure bureaucratic process may turn into a financial nightmare if you don’t keep

costs insight. Attorney’s fees, EB-5 consultants, and other service providers will help tremendously

along the way but always for a fee.

3. Do not attempt to collect information from attorneys and service providers for free. While most

professionals in the U.S. will be glad to point you in the right direction in a brief conversation for free,

calling and e-mailing repeatedly without having an engagement agreement in place will create some

clashes. You need to do as much research as possible prior to start making phone calls.

4. If the EB-5 application involves bringing your family to the U.S. make sure that the EB-5 investment

is not 100% of your family savings. There is too much at stake, and you will need funds to live

comfortably and with little access to credit.

5. The EB-5 program works best for investors that place a higher importance on the U.S. Citizenship

rather than in return on investment. Having said that, the highest return on investment occurs on direct

investments.

6. There are a lot of inactive Regional Centers. It is imperative to perform due diligence on both Regional

Centers (Private and Public) and companies offering EB-5 investments.

7. You may find available options or you can create one yourself. Many investors forget the fact that they

can start their own business and use it to apply for EB-5. This is perhaps more complex and time

consuming than other available options but it will be significantly more affordable and rewarding if

you run a business that you have an interest on.

8. There are simpler and faster (although more restrictive) ways to migrate to the U.S. as an investor.

Consider E-2 or L-1 visas as valid alternatives to your case.

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References and Resources

The following references are some of the best resources regarding the EB-5 program. Click on the header of

each of these to visit their site.

Greengate Consulting, LLC

Greengate Consulting is a firm dedicated to provide counsel and services to international investors seeking to

invest in the U.S. under any of the investment visas available. Among some of the services offered are business

plans, economic analysis, risk analysis, and TEA studies.

IIUSA

Founded in 2005, the Association to Invest In the USA (IIUSA®) is the national membership-based 501(c)(6)

not-for-profit industry trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Program (the “Program”).

USCIS

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services page for EB-5 Program.

Code of Federal Regulations (Article 204.6 EB-5 Program)

This is the actual law mandating the requirements of the EB-5 program.

EB-5 Investors Magazine

EB5 Investors Magazine serves as a companion to EB5Investors.com and strives to deliver compelling and

comprehensive articles and information for everything EB-5 related. EB5 Investors magazine provides a

platform to keep readers up to date on the constantly changing laws and legislation pertaining to EB-5.

How to Find Chinese Investors, Agents & Clients for your EB-5 Projects & Services

In his new book Dr. Gregory Finkelson unveils practical and insightful information to help business people

understand the opportunities and benefits of the EB-5 program with Chinese investors.

EB-5 Investments

Increase your knowledge about the EB-5 investment options and persons behind the offerings; save time and

money by investing directly. The site allows you to search information on past and present projects, industry,

state, operators, developers, financial institutions and other professionals involved.

EB-5 Info

EB-5 Info is a source of news and information on the USCIS EB-5 Visa Immigrant Investor program and is

powered by USAdvisors, a Registered Investment Advisory Firm.