U.S. EB-5 Regional Centers extend a helping hand to fellow North American Immigration Consultants

Both the United States and Canada have immigrant investor programs. In the United States, the program is called the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program. In Canada, the program is simply the Immigrant Investor program. While the details of each program vary, there exists as slight a similarity between the two programs as there is between the two countries. Both programs have a job creation aspect to them and both require a significant capital investment amount in return for lawful permanent residency—citizenship.

Naturally, the appeal to the United States versus Canada is left to interpretation by the individual investor. Who, one might ask, may have the ability to influence the opinion of such investors? The answer is: none other than immigration consultants.

Immigration consultants generally help guide foreign national investors through the immigrant investor or EB-5 process. Unfortunately for Canadian immigration consultants, the Canadian government has enacted, and since reached, a quota limiting the number of immigrant investors receiving permanent residency status. Because of the rate at which this quota was reached, Canadian immigration consultants are left in a state of flux and panic in regards to their own employment. What are they to do with the large number of clients and foreign nationals looking to take advantage of immigrant investor programs? Consider the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program of the United States.

This is where the EB-5 Regional Centers of the United States come into play. The EB-5 Immigrant Investor program of the United States also has a Green Card quota. However, not once since the inception of the EB-5 program in 1990 has that EB-5 Visa quota been reached, or even tested.

While Canadian immigration consultants find themselves in the proverbial ‘Catch 22’, U.S. EB-5 Regional Centers are eager to lend their friends to the north a helping hand. By redirecting potential investors to the EB-5 program of the United States, the Canadian immigration consultants will find themselves with continued employment and the U.S. can inch closer to issuing its allotted number of EB-5 immigrant investor visas and permanent residency.

Without permanent residency to issue, Canadian immigration consultants have no product to offer to potential investors. Partnering with EB-5 Regional Centers gives Canada’s immigration consultants a total of 10,000 more potential visas and Green Cards to offer to their clients. Choosing to work with EB-5 Regional Centers and exercising the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program before its sunset at the end of September gives Canadian immigration consultants the opportunity to earn commission on every single EB-5 investor that they refer to EB-5 Regional Centers.

By taking advantage of this unique opportunity to work together as North American neighbors, the EB-5 Regional Centers of the United States and the immigration consultants of Canada can take part in helping to rebuild the economy of and create jobs for the citizens of the world’s greatest nation which, in turn, will benefit economies and individuals the world over.

FY12 Q1 EB-5 Statistics

USCIS has released new statistics as part of the presentation for the 1/23 EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting.

Form I-924 (& Pre-I-924) Regional Center Initial Applications
Fiscal Year or Quarter	Receipts	Approvals	Denials
FY12 Q1	41	14	22
FY11	192	80	51
FY10	110	36	30

Form I-924 (& Pre-I-924) Regional Center Amendment Requests
Fiscal Year or Quarter	Receipts	Approvals	Denials
FY12 Q1	17	4	3
FY11	86	43	7
FY10	42	42	11

Form I-526 Petition Final Actions
Fiscal Year and/or Quarter	Form I-526 Approvals	Final Action %	Form I-526 Denials	Final Action %
FY12 Q1	1,076	83%	222	17%
FY11	1,563	81%	371	19%
FY10	1,369	89%	165	11%
FY09	1,262	86%	207	14%
FY08	640	84%	120	16%
FY07	473	76%	148	24%
FY06	336	73%	124	27%
FY05	179	53%	156	47%

Form I-829 Petition Final Actions
Fiscal Year and/or Quarter	Form I-829 Approvals	Final Action %	Form I-829 Denials	Final Action %
FY12 Q1	144	93%	11	7%
FY11	1,067	96%	46	4%
FY10	274	83%	56	17%
FY09	347	86%	56	14%
FY08	159	70%	68	30%
FY07	111	69%	49	31%
FY06	106	64%	59	36%
FY05	184	62%	112	38%

EB-5 Visa Usage
Fiscal Year	Total EB-5 Visas Issued
FY12 YTD*	2,364
FY11	3,463
FY10	1,885
FY09	4,218
FY08	1,360
FY07	806
FY06	744
FY05	158
*Estimate of FY12 Visas Issued YTD, reported by the Department of State as of 01/17/2012.

Meet the EB-5 Pilot

By Joshua Pringle, Contributing Editor From Multi-Housing News Online

Meet The EB-5 Pilot

In 1990, in an effort to stimulate job creation and foreign capital investment in the United States, Congress created the Immigrant Investor Program, commonly referred to as EB-5. The program provides foreign nationals a way to obtain a temporary green card by investing in U.S. economic development projects.

In 1993, the EB-5 Pilot Program was implemented, supported by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Pilot Program creates regional centers that act as a liaison between foreign investors and the U.S. government and ensures that the requirements of EB-5 are met.

Taher Kameli is executive director of Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, a Regional

Center that represents 14 counties in northeastern Illinois and five counties in northwest

Indiana. “A Regional Center has been defined as a public or private entity that has been established to help the economic growth of the region,” explains Kameli. “The U.S. government designates a company as a Regional Center, and then that company has to find projects and bring foreign investors to those projects,” he adds.

Investment money can come entirely from foreign sources, or it can be a mix of foreign and

domestic capital. For an investor to meet the qualifications of EB-5, the minimum investment is $1 million. Or, if the investment targets a high-unemployment or rural area, the minimum qualifying investment is $500,000. Each investment must also create 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers.

Investors are not required to go through a Regional Center if they are able to put together a comprehensive business plan on their own, demonstrating how the jobs will be created and the requirements met. However, the application process for EB-5 can be a lengthy one, even when the investor does go through a Regional Center.

“In this program,” Kameli says, “the money sits in an escrow account until the application is approved by the U.S. government, which may take six to eight months. And if the individuals are from different countries—certain countries that the U.S. government has sanctions against—those individuals have to get permission from the U.S. government before even sending the money to the escrow account. It adds about six to eight months more to their regular processing. So it may take about a year to one-and-a-half years for the money to be released, and that is something that doesn’t sit well with the real estate community, because it needs the money today.”

The government has been trying to improve the turnaround time on these projects for years. In fact, the program was put on hold from 1998 to 2003 while the application process was streamlined. “After that, it picked up,” Kameli says, “and since 2004 we have seen a surge every year in EB-5 applications.” Currently, “they’re talking about expediting the program and the application process for the individuals if the project is shovel-ready. If we get the application to go through in an expedited way, I think it’s going to be much more attractive to the development community.”

Regional Centers in Seattle and parts of California have successfully pushed through several projects, and other regions are close behind. Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group was not designated until March of 2009, but Kameli is pleased with its progress so far. “In the state of Illinois we have raised enough money to start and finish five assisted-living facilities. That is about $58 million in total committed from the foreigners to set up these facilities.”

Investors from China, South Korea and other parts of East Asia have shown a big interest in the program, as it potentially gives them access to the United States that they would otherwise be unable to obtain. Kameli says, “Many of these investors are getting the green card for, number one, education of their children; number two, to be able to come to the United States much more easily; and number three, to come here and start a new business.”

As of now, the EB-5 Program is scheduled to sunset at the end of September 2012, but the program has been extended several times, and members of the business community are lobbying to make it a permanent program. IIUSA (The Association to Invest in USA) recently held a fundraising event in San Antonio, Texas, advocating for EB-5 permanency. NES Financial, which provides EB-5 escrow administration services, sponsored the fundraiser and spoke out in support of the program’s positive impact on job creation and development.

“I don’t think there’s any reason for the president or Congress to shut this program down,” Kameli says. “It’s a win-win situation. It brings foreign money to the country, and jobs will be created based on the mandate of the U.S. government. I think it is very good for the current state of our economy.”

EB-5 Investor Program; Choosing the Right Path

Social and political instability worldwide has led an ever-increasing number of nouveau riche foreign nationals to research and consider USCIS’s EB-5 program. While the investment itself must be considered ‘at-risk’, more and more investors are factoring in better property protection, living environment, and education for kids through immigration to the United States as additional benefits of the EB-5 program. These seemingly added bonuses have enticed enough foreign nationals to apply for permanent residency through the EB-5 program at a rate in 2011 that is double that of 2010 and ten times greater than 2007.

One of the many challenges to the EB-5 program is the comparatively higher labor costs. The manufacturing industry has seen a strong shift in outsourcing in the last decade or so in efforts to keep prices down and remain competitive in a global marketplace. Because the EB-5 jobs must be created for American workers, the labor costs could leave businesses operating at a loss. In the event that a business fails to sustain the EB-5 required number of jobs for the two year conditional period, applicants run the risk of a cancelled application.

With all of these risk factors, how do EB-5 investors mitigate the risks their investment. EB-5 investors should be given all of the information about the program, its risks, and the projects in which they are investing. Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group (CFIG) is a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services EB-5 Regional Center that prides itself on its honesty and integrity. CFIG’s Executive Director, Taher Kameli, has been involved in both immigration and international business law for almost two decades and fully understands the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program and immigration processes.

Although the trend internationally is for migration agents to ignore risk factors when offering EB-5 projects, CFIG operate differently. CFIG provide honest disclosure to accredited investors and extends its responsibility further to helps guide EB-5 investors through the processes. CFIG recognizes how significant a risk and change EB-5 investors assume, and therefore, treats every investor as an individual versus a mere source of capital.

Get to know Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group EB-5 Regional Center

Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, LLC (CFIG) is an U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved EB-5 Regional Center, receiving its designation in 2009. As an EB-5 Regional Center, CFIG promotes investment projects aimed at assisting investors in obtaining permanent residence status.

CFIG structured uniquely so that in all of its projects the investors are always protected.

By designing an EB-5 Regional Center that is truly dedicated to the protection of the investors, CFIG has implemented clearly defined exist strategies in each of the projects in an effort to minimize the EB-5 Investor’s risk.

At CFIG, we pride ourselves on adherence to the integrity and goals of the EB-5 Program. We strive to ensure that our projects are as safe as possible for investors. By retaining control over our projects, CFIG is able to oversee development and operation from start to finish–ensuring completion of the Program requirements. This allows CFIG to have a positive impact on the community through growth in businesses which are both sustainable over long periods of time and capable of creating numerous permanent jobs.

What Makes CFIG Unique?

CFIG takes a vested interest in the goals and aspirations of our investors. We view investors as individuals and not just investment dollars. The center understands both the EB-5 and general immigration programs and provides unparalleled experience and expertise in helping investors complete the immigration process to create a win-win situation in which both investors and projects achieve their goals while promoting economic growth, improving regional productivity, and creating jobs.

For more information please visit www.ChicagoEB5.com