News
Reading the TEA Leaves
An upcoming change in the data used to determine the unemployment rate for certification of targeted employment areas (TEAs) may have consequences for funding current and future projects. The project must principally do business in a TEA at the time of the immigrant’s investment for the minimum amount to be $500,000....
Help from our Canadian Friends
The Canadian Finance Minister has abruptly announced the elimination Canada’s popular Immigrant Investor Visa Program. An estimated 45,000 Chinese investors will have their applications terminated and funds returned. Many of these investors will now be looking at our EB-5 program. The Canadian program was substantially different than the EB-5 system. Canada...
Adding the Commerce Department to the Mix
On February 4, 2014, the Brookings Institute, a Washington think-tank, released a report recommending supervisory oversight of the adjudication of regional center applications by the Commerce Department. This study supports the December findings of Homeland Security’s Inspector General that the EB-5 program exceeds the USCIS mission and should use the...
More Talk of Visa Backlog for Chinese EB-5 Cases
Eighty-five percent of EB-5 cases involve investors from China. It is anticipated Chinese investors will use up their quota of the 10,000 EB-5 visas this fiscal year. The State Department predicts the visa list may backlog this July. In October 2014, 10,000 visas become available for fiscal year 2015. The approved...
SEC Update
The SEC meets with the USCIS weekly. The SEC has also sought documents from and has been talking to some regional centers. The SEC is concerned about finder’s fees being paid to non-Series 7 licensed broker dealers in the US. Also, the SEC wants to ensure that a project’s PPM discloses...