EB-5 Program Regional Centers Have Been Re-authorized until 2015. EB-5 Regional Centers play an important role in raising EB-5 financing for new business development, and there has been some concern among investors and project developers that the federal regulations authorizing EB-5 regional centers were set to expire on September 30,…
The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development is actively communicating with EB-5 stakeholders to address concerns raised with the new procedures for designating “Targeted Employment Areas.” We met with Brook Taylor and Mather Kearney of the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (known as “GoBiz”) on May…
Since the release of its “Tenant Occupancy” Notice on February 17, 2012, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has begun issuing Requests for Evidence on pending regional center applications and exemplar I-526 petitions that involve “tenant occupancy models”. These Requests for Evidence articulate a new USCIS policy to reject…
Why EB-5 financing is important to hotel developers now: Financing for new hotel development is still in short supply, even for experienced hotel developers. As a result, many hotel developers are exploring the EB-5 financing program as an alternative to traditional financing sources. The EB-5 investor visa program offers non-U.S.…
An immigrant investor has two primary objectives when shopping for an EB-5 project — to minimize the immigration risk and to minimize the investment risk. No immigrant wants to move to the U.S. under a conditional green card (that requires them to generate jobs in the U.S.), buy a house,…
This article appeared in the September 19, 2011 issue of Hotel Business and is reprinted with permission. With hotel development financing still in short supply, the EB-5 investor visa program is an alternative financing source worth exploring . The EB-5 program allows foreign investors to obtain a U.S. visa for…