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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Great News: Tom Reed announces proposal to help hospice care




U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning today announced he has introduced a bill, HR 3506, aimed at boosting hospice care in rural areas.

He announced the Hospice Evaluation and Legitimate Payment (HELP Hospice) Act, at the Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care Center in Corning. Reed said in a release the bill would make changes that “ensure that payment reform is carefully evaluated” and allow clinical nurse specialists and physicians assistants to conduct required face-to-face interviews.

Mary Ann Starbuck, chief executive officer of Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care, said in the release the bill would provide needed flexibility for critical procedures in giving hospice care.



 By Julie Sherwood, staff writer
Posted Nov 22, 2011

Monday, November 21, 2011

Why currency exchange may mean that you need to consider the EB-5 visa sooner rather than later

Great read from the Which EB-5 team regarding the state of the currency for those  who are looking to invest in the US Economy in the coming years. (Read Below)



A recent report by Swiss bank UBS is forecasting that the US economy will expand faster than any other developed country in 2012. If this report turns out to be correct there could be a significant impact on currency trends over the next twelve months.


A number of currencies including the Euro, Yen, Pound and Canadian Dollar have all enjoyed a period of relative strength against the US dollar over the past few years. This has been particularly helpful for those planning to immigrate to the USA on the EB-5 visa as they have often benefited from favorable currency exchange rates....



Friday, November 18, 2011

New EB-5 Adjudications Policy from USCIS

USCIS Director Mayorkas issued a draft memorandum and held a stakeholders conference call on November 9, 2011.  Although the memorandum is in draft form, it represents the present thinking of USCIS.  It is anticipated that, in the coming months, the memorandum will be finalized after public comment.  It will represent a comprehensive statement of USCIS policy on all major EB-5 issues.
 
1.     Premium Processing
 
USCIS is targeting spring 2012 for premium processing.  (My personal estimate is summer 2012 at the earliest).  At least initially, premium processing will be limited to new I-924 regional center designation applications.  It will not apply to regional center amendments, separately filed exemplar I-526 project pre-approval applications or investor I-526 petitions.
 
2.     State TEA Designation Letters
 
USCIS confirms that it will not challenge the state determinations of geographical areas to be designated targeted employment areas.  USCIS reserves the right to make certain that the mathematical computations of 150% of the national average unemployment rate are correct.  This is a significant development since USCIS, in the last 6 months, had challenged state geographical determinations in at least 5 states...

 

Monday, November 7, 2011

USCIS EB-5 TELECONFERENCE WITH DIRECTOR MAYORKAS REGARDING NEW POLICY GUIDANCE



USCIS announced via email a teleconference with Director Mayorkas, Wed 11/9 at 1 PM EST.  To RSVP, email public.engagement@dhs.gov. 

The dial in is: 888-810-9647 - Passcode: EB-5.

The announcement indicated that the policy guidance will be posted for public comment at uscis.gov/outreach soon.


Read Original Article Here - EB-5 News Blog

Friday, November 4, 2011

Finger Lakes economic growth plan relies mostly on private dollars


Comment - "To be honest in regards to the article written below, this is where a program like Empire State EB-5 Regional Center can interject and be a useful tool for local development. With the experienced team and available resources to coordinate foreign investment for creation of US economic growth and increase in employment that is essential at this time in our country and local regions need to entertain all possible avenues for success to be achieved. "



Written by:Tom Tobin
Staff Writer for Rochester D&C


 The 10 projects chosen by the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council for inclusion in its strategic plan depend far more on private-sector money than required by the state.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in devising the region-based economic development process this year, asked each of the 10 regional councils to propose projects with a private-to-public funding ratio of 5 to 1.

The projects tentatively approved Tuesday by the nine-county Finger Lakes council have an overall long-term cost of about $830 million. The state would be asked to contribute, over several years, about $86 million, for nearly a 10-to-1 private-public ratio.....


Written by:Tom Tobin
Staff Writer for Rochester D&C
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