New Proposed Bill Would Offer Temporary Visas for Foreign Residential Real Estate Investors

A new legislative bill introduced by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) proposes to offer a temporary residency visa to immigrants who spend at least $500,000 on a home in the United States. This bill, which received bipartisan support, will soon be considered by the U.S. Congress as a new way to stimulate a struggling U.S. housing market. While not the same as the noted EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa program, which offers a path to citizenship for foreign nationals who invest at least $500,000 in a U.S. business enterprise that leads to at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers, the newly proposed housing bill will provide a new and novel method for foreign nationals to enter and remain in the U.S. through investment. The U.S. housing market is currently struggling; this...

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Posted in: EB-5,EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa program,Foreign Residential Real Estate Investors,New Proposed Bill

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program: An Exceptional Opportunity to Invest in Major Hotel Projects in the United States

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor visa program has been available for a number of years in different forms; the program, however, has received much more interest from foreign investors in China, India and other international locations in recent years. Funding from the EB-5 program has been used for a number of construction and investment projects, including major hotel projects. In recent years, the EB-5 program has been used to support projects to improve California’s W Hotel and Residences Hollywood (a major project with 305 luxury hotel rooms and nearly 150 private residences, as well as about 25,000 square feet of meeting space. In addition, EB-5 investors have funded construction of a Courtyard and a Residence Inn in New York, and a Westin Hotel in Flushing, New York. The EB-5 immigrant investor...

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Posted in: EB-5,EB-5 Immigrant Investor,EB-5 Immigration,EB-5 Program,EB-5 Visa

EB-5 Investor Centers Peak in New York, Across the Nation

Just a few years ago, there were only 11 Immigrant Investor Regional Centers in the United States. Today, there are nearly 150. In New York alone, four new centers were approved by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services this year alone. These centers, which enable foreign nationals from areas across the world to obtain green cards through major economic investments, are bringing new life to areas stunted by the economic downturn and are supporting growth in areas already established as economic centers – including New York City itself. There’s the New York City Regional Center, which has raised $60 million for growth projects in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as well as $65 for a Brooklyn-based film and TV studio. That center is now looking into even larger funded projects, including...

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USCIS Approves Six New EB-5 Regional Centers

USCIS has approved six new EB-5 Regional Centers in California, Georgia, Hawaii and Oregon under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Visa Program. These centers will enable immigrants who are investing $500,000 or more the option of obtaining a temporary green card and a path to citizenship. California The California Golden Fund, with a geographic focus of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernadino counties, will focus on the following industries: accommodations; food services; professional, scientific and technical services; manufacturing; retail trade; and construction. The Global Premier America Regional Center LLC, with a geographic focus of Los Angeles, Orange, Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, Alameda, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, and...

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Buck Johns Marketing EB-5 Investors Elsewhere

The City Council Tuesday night will continue debating whether to take U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to court, fighting the agency's decision to terminate Victorville's visa investor program and cut off funds the city was counting on to finance its wastewater treatment plant.Meanwhile, Inland Energy President William Buck Johns, hired by the city in 2009 to line up $25 million in loans from aspiring immigrants, has started marketing Victorville's investors to other EB-5 regional centers.“We did meet with Buck (Johns) and there is talk that some of their investors would reapply under our program,” Henry Liebman, founder of EB-5 program American Life Inc. in Washington, said via email Monday.Johns didn’t respond to a request for comment, and Mayor Ryan McEachron said the move was...

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USCIS Proposes Changes to I-924 Processing in EB-5 Program Applications

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor program was created in 1990 to help create jobs and international investment in the United States. Interested investors may petition to participate on their own or as part of a Regional Center, designated as such by USCIS. Investors can petition for the EB-5 visa on Form I-526 or for Regional Center designation on Form I-924. The proposal process is, however, quite complex, and involves a series of documents, including business plans supported by expert analyses and other key information. This process can be arduous and, according to many stakeholders and petitioners, is not ideal. In response to concerns voiced by stakeholders and petitioners, USCIS has submitted a series of proposed changes to the processing of EB-5 immigration cases. These changes will change...

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The U.S Immigration Department has Proposed Significant Updates to EB-5 Visa Processing

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) today proposed significant enhancements to the administration of the Immigrant Investor Program, commonly referred to as the EB-5 Program. The Proposal was made public by USCIS and a summary of the proposal was forwarded to Mr. Darren Silver, Principal Attorney of Darren Silver & Associates. Today, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made public a proposal to modify the existing protocol on how EB-5 Regional Center applications are processed and reviewed. USCIS is proposing three fundamental changes to the way it processes EB-5 Regional Center filings. This proposal has been reviewed and is summarized below by Mr. Darren Silver, Principal Attorney of Darren Silver & Associates. First, USCIS proposes to accelerate its processing...

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Immigrant Investor Program to Fund Rebuilding of Famous Pabst Brewery and Millhouse

An investment from a foreign national under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program is reshaping an American staple – the former Pabst brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Work on a new hotel and Hofbrauhaus restaurant in the brewery’s former location could start this summer. USCIS has just approved the first of 30 Chinese nationals who are each investing $500,000 into the project. This project, which is being spearheaded by Wisconsin developer Gary Gorman, will utilize $15 million in foreign investments to convert the former brewery and mill house into a six-story, 90-room hotel. Foreign capital is being raised for the project under USCIS’ EB-5 program, which enables foreign citizens to obtain a residency visa by investing at least $500,000 in a U.S. project that would result in at least 10...

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Missoula Regional Investment Center Now Seeks Investors

An investment center based in Missoula, Montana, is now looking for foreign nationals interested in investing millions of dollars under the state’s newest EB-5 visa program. The Northern Rockies Regional Center has just been approved as an official Employment-Based Regional Center through USCIS, which means that it can now offer EB-5 Immigrant Investor visas to high-level foreign investors. EB-5 Immigrant Investor visas are permanent resident visas provided to foreign nationals who invest large amounts of money in the U.S.; in return for their investments, USCIS offers visas to such people. There are 50 EB-5 designated centers in the U.S. and USCIS has available a total of 10,000 EB-5 visas that can be utilized each year.  The Missoula Regional Center is looking for 60 investors,...

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Vermont Senator Supports Making the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Permanent

Earlier this month, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D) announced that he plans to try again to make the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center pilot program a permanent immigration fixture. Leahy described Vermont’s regional center program, which was established in 1997, as an economic powerhouse. “Vermont’s regional center program is an economic engine for the state,” he said. “In a small state like ours, economic success in one area is inevitably felt in other parts of the state. Making the EB-5 program permanent is just the start. We are working to modernize the program to handle the growth it has seen across the country in recent years. Vermont’s use of the program is a model of success, and other states have taken note.” Over the past handful of years, Sen. Leahy has worked with colleagues...

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The Latest News about the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program

Victorville Investor Agrees to Forfeit Processing Fee: According to recent reports, Yin-Yang Dong, an Asian investor in the Victorville, CA EB-5 Immigrant Investor program has agreed to forfeit $50,000 so that the $500,000 he loaned to the city through the now defunct EB-5 program can be recovered. Las Vegas Conference Features EB-5 Program:  A recent two-day conference about the EB-5 program held in Las Vegas, NV, was a resounding success with nearly 200 real estate developers, lawyers, regional center executives and sponsors attending. Those regional center executives attending the conference included George Ekins, CEO of American Dream Fund, which manages the Los Angeles Regional Center and the Las Vegas Regional Center, and Robert Hobbs, VP of R.H. Hobbs and Century American Regional...

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