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.

Attention: International Students EB-5 is for you!

Attention: International Students EB-5 is for you!

Second semester senior year is supposed to be both exciting and relaxing for college students. Finishing up your major, interviewing for jobs, and planning trips to Europe consume your last few months as a full-time student. But what if that trip you were planning—Europe, Asia, anywhere—was going to be permanent? At this time, international students studying in the United States are faced not only with a slow and challenging economy and job market; they are also struggling to get sponsorship for H-1 or work visas.

Consider this scenario: At age 18, you receive a student visa and decide to study in the United States. It is 2008, and while the job market is not completely awful in the U.S., you are confident that things will turn around by the time you are ready to graduate in 2012. Now, fast forward through those four years of undergrad. It is now 2012 and you are getting ready to walk across that stage. Nerves set in, because the job market has not picked up as hoped and the companies that are hiring graduates are looking to hire U.S. citizens and forego the H-1 or work visa paper process. You feel stuck. You feel helpless. You have just spent the last four years of your life networking, studying, interning, and giving everything you could to your community and now you have no choice but to leave. Wasn’t the reason you decided to study in the United States in the first place to learn as much as you could and then find a job and stay here? Your dreams are shattered.

Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, LLC (CFIG) understands your concerns and offers you an option that will allow you obtain a U.S. Green Card within one year and restore those dreams. It is called EB-5. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) EB-5 immigrant investor program is designed to address the issues of job creation and economic development while, at the same time, providing investors with U.S. Green Cards. CFIG has been designated as a USCIS EB-5 regional center, allowing them facilitate match EB-5 qualifying projects with EB-5 investors.

The minimum investment requirement for EB-5 is $500,000 in a targeted employment area or $1,000,000 in any other area within an EB-5 regional center’s designated operating area. By investing through an EB-5 regional center, like CFIG, much of the stress investors fear is alleviated. CFIG vets projects and structures business plans to ensure EB-5 compliance. Each EB-5 investment creates 10 jobs—directly or indirectly—and helps stimulate local economies. It is this job creation that helps to stimulate the economy.

While EB-5 investors are not employed by the projects in which they invest, the EB-5 regional center’s projects are helping to stimulate the economy. A growing economy leads to increased hiring in general and increased hiring creates a more promising job market for graduating students and international students.

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

Is Canada Taking Our Capital?

How Red Tape Surrounding the EB-5 Program May Be Driving Funds into Canada, Away from the U.S.

The continued economic instability of the United States has left elected officials in all major cities scrambling for vital funds to pay teacher salaries, repair infrastructure, and keep the city clean and safe. As they rearrange funds at the expense of vital programs, Executive Director of Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group, Taher Kameli, says that the answer to our economic woes really lay overseas by utilizing the generally unfamiliar EB-5 program. With a number of conditions and requirements, though, the U.S. EB-5 program can be overlooked by investors for the more convenient Canada Immigrant Investor Program. Kameli weighs in on how raising EB-5 awareness among government officials in the U.S. can help reduce red tape surrounding the program and drive much needed money into our infrastructure and economy.

The EB-5 program in the United States was created in 1990 to entice foreign investors into opening businesses in America to boost the economy in exchange for a green card, allowing for conditional residency for individuals investing between $500,000 and $1 million in a new commercial enterprise. Said enterprise must directly employ 10 US citizens or authorized immigrants full-time and the investor must engage in the business in some form, either directly through day-to-day managerial tasks or indirectly through policy formation. The minimum investment amount varies based on the geographical area, also termed “Regional Center,” and whether or not said area is a “Targeted Employment Area” (TEA) as designated by the state, meaning that said area has an unemployment rate at least 150% of the national average. Similarly, Canada features both the Canada Immigrant Investor Program and the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program, offering business-minded individuals the opportunity to immigrate to Canada with their families by making a five-year passive investment with the government with the option to finance. The return of funds is government-backed and permanent residency status given to investors. The Canada IIP is so popular, in fact, that it’s currently closed until July 1, 2012 due to an influx of applications. Where as the EB-5 program provides temporary, conditional U.S. residency based on the ability of the investment to create jobs, the Canada and Quebec IIPs provide unconditional residency to the investor and their family.

Though the EB-5 program was established over 21 years ago, the vast majority of U.S. lawmakers and government officials are undereducated on or unaware of the program and it’s tremendous potential for revitalizing the United States. Canada, on the other hand, is active in its Immigrant Investor Programs, using it to boost the economy and fund projects throughout the country.

“When taken advantage of, the EB-5 program has the ability to have a significant positive impact on the infrastructure of the United States. The problem lays in the fact that most U.S. law makers and government officials have not been properly educated on EB-5 and thus don’t give it the attention it deserves,” says Kameli. “Foreign investors are drawn to government-backed and supported programs, which is what makes the Canada and Quebec IIPs so attractive. They want to know that their money has the support of the United States government. If more U.S. government officials could come out in public support of the program and make it more attractive to investors, EB-5 could have a tremendous impact on our country.”

To EB-5 or not to EB-5?

The term ‘EB-5’ has been buzzing around a lot lately. But what is EB-5? What does it stand for? And, more importantly, what does EB-5 mean for me? First things first: EB-5 is a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Immigrant Investor Program. The program was created in 1990 to stimulate the US economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign nationals. Because of the sustainable job creation of each investment, the US government allows EB-5 investors to apply for permanent residency within the United States. Due to the unfortunate state of the US economy, the EB-5 Program has seen a significant increase in popularity as it addresses several fundamental needs that can help to restore the economy—job creation, economic stimulation, and alternative funding sources.

For a firmer grip on what EB-5 is, we must answer the second question: What does EB-5 stand for? EB-5 stands for Employment Based-Fifth Preference. There are five ways to obtain US visas through employment. The first four preferences relate to your own employment. The last, or fifth, preference requires that the applicant employ others. Since the Immigrant Investor Program focuses on job creation and the employment of others, it satisfies the fifth preference and is thus called the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, or EB-5, for short.

Finally, the most important question: What does EB-5 mean for me? By its very nature, the EB-5 program provides plenty of benefits to US citizens. The purpose of the program is to create jobs and stimulate local economies through foreign investments. Jobs are created in areas of high unemployment and employ US citizens. With the addition of jobs, the EB-5 Program helps to stimulate the economy as additional revenue is introduced into the area. The biggest perk of all: these benefits are achieved through EB-5 investment funds—not US tax dollars.

So how do these EB-5 investors create the jobs through their investments? The easiest way is to team up with a Regional Center. Two years after the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program was created, the USCIS introduced the EB-5 Pilot Program. The EB-5 Pilot Program created the Regional Center. A Regional Center is a United States government approved entity dedicated to the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment of a regional.

Regional Centers, like Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group (CFIG), facilitate the matching of foreign investment funds with viable projects. CFIG, in particular, is approached both by foreign nationals interested in obtaining an EB-5 visa and local businesses and projects in search of alternative funding sources. Regional Centers are popping up all across the country. The past few years have seen a growth in the number of designated EB-5 Regional Centers nationwide of over one hundred percent.

The seemingly overwhelming immigration and funding processes can be easily managed by the firms associated with Regional Centers. For example, CFIG was born out of both the need for a Regional Center in Chicago and its principal’s 16 years of experience as an immigration and international business law attorney. Regional Centers offer the perfect starting point for discovering the role that the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program can play in your life and the life of your project.