EB 5 Visa Costs More Depending on your Currency

[Source: Stephen Parnell, WhichEB5.com]  

Will your EB 5 visa cost rise based solely on your currency?

If you have decided that the EB 5 visa provides your best opportunity for obtaining permanent residency status for you and your family you may wish to act sooner than later, depending on which country you and your funds are now in.

The US dollar has strengthened against a number of currencies. A number of economic and currency analysts believe it will rise further against certain currencies over the next few months.

The immediate reason behind this strengthening of the dollar is the signals from The US Federal Reserve that its purchases of bonds with newly created money may begin to tail off, possibly as early as September.

Just the possibility of quantitative easing has had the effect of pushing up long-term interest rates. In turn the increase in yields on US treasury bonds attracts capital from riskier parts of the world pushing up the value of the US dollar.

Along with this impact, the increasingly positive stories about the US economy all add to the attraction of the dollar; particularly when compared to the economic bad news stories about other parts of the world.

Complete article here:EB5 Visa Cost More Depending...

Key EB-5 Issues Contained in the Senate Comprehensive Immigration Bill Introduced on April 17, 2013

[Source: Laura Reiff and Kate Kalmykov, www.eb5investors.com]

The key EB-5 provisions in the bill include:

-Making permanent the EB-5 Regional Center program.  Introduced in 1992 as a “pilot” program, it has continually been reauthorized by Congress and most recently it was extended through September 30, 2015. 

-Recapture of unused immigrant visa numbers from prior fiscal years. 

-Elimination of per country quotas for employment based visa numbers, this would have 
significant implications for China which is predicted to reach its quota in fiscal year 2014.

-Exemption from the employment based immigrant visa numbers for spouses and children of principal applicants, this means that visa numbers which are currently capped at 10,000 would be allocated solely to principal investors.

-Additional immigrant visas numbers for the EB-5 program as a whole.

Full "Gang of Eight" Legislation Immigration Reform 

USA Major Market Segmentation (2013 - First Quarter)

[Source: www.ibisworld.com]

This graph represents the breakdown of total money spent from consumers in each industries general category. More spending by consumers will boost economic growth in the first two quarters of 2013 after a lull at the end of last year. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The big winner three months into the new year goes to Finance and Insurance industry.

How long does it take to get money out of EB-5 investments?

[Source: Which EB5; Guest blog by attorney Anthony Olson]

One of the top questions in the mind of every prospective EB-5 investor is “How long does it take to get my money out of the EB-5 investment?” To answer that question, we have to examine that question from three primary perspectives: 1) immigration legal requirements for how long the investment must be maintained; 2) contractual legal restrictions; and 3) market, economic obstacles to cashing out of the investment.

USCIS requires that the $500,000 of investment funds and the program fee charged by the regional center be paid either into escrow, pending the approval or denial of the I-526 petition, or paid directly into the EB-5 enterprise before the I-526 petition can be filed. Therefore, the funds must be held in escrow or in the EB-5 project the entire time that the I-526 petition is pending, which can range from one month to one year. From recent experience in 2012 and 2013, the processing times have gone up from 4-6 months to 10-12 months. Once the I-526 petition is approved, USCIS requires that the investment be maintained until USCIS approves the I-829 petition to remove conditions from the conditional permanent residence. This means that we need to add another 3-6 months (sometimes longer) for consular processing of an immigrant visa or adjustment of status in the U.S. in order to begin the two-year period of conditional permanent residence. Then, in the final 90 days of the two-year period, the EB-5 investor must file the I-829 petition to remove conditions from the conditional permanent residence. It typically takes anywhere from 2 months to 10+ months for USCIS to decide the I-829 petition. So, if we figure the processing times on the longer end, with 10 months for the I-526 petition, 6 months for the consular processing, 2 years of conditional permanent residence, and 6 months for the I-829 petition, then we have 46 months, which is just 2 months short of 4 years. I generally tell clients to figure on 3.5 to 4 years to go through the EB-5 immigration process from start to finish, which is how long the client’s funds must be tied up due to immigration legal requirements.

Finishing reading the article here

USCIS EB-5: Policy memorandum for public comment

[Subject: USCIS Public Engagement Division: EB-5 Policy Memorandum for Public Comment]

Dear USCIS Stakeholders,

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is continually focused on enhancing its administration of the EB-5 program. As part of our efforts we have undertaken an iterative policy development process which includes the posting of a draft EB-5 policy memorandum for public comment. We would like to thank stakeholders for providing comments on previously posted versions of the EB-5 memorandum.

Today USCIS is posting an updated EB-5 memorandum for your further review and comment. Your feedback is a vital part of the stakeholder collaborative process and is critical to informing the development of our policies. To comment on the updated EB-5 memorandum, visit the Draft Memoranda for Comment section of www.uscis.gov. Please send all comments on the draft memorandum to opefeedback@uscis.dhs.gov.

PM-602-XXXX, EB-5 Adjudications Policy

            (Final date for comments: Monday, April 1, 2013)

We look forward to receiving your feedback.

Sincerely,

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Foreign-investment led projects blossom

[Source: Bizjournal, Brian Terrell, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.]

While construction lending remains tight and high loan-to-cost ratio continue, the EB-5 Regional Center program offers an alternative financing route for projects, especially if they require new real estate construction. In general, EB-5 financing will cover approximately 20 percent to 70 percent of a project depending on the number of jobs created.

<<<READ MORE HERE>>>

For more information on the USCIS EB-5 Immigration Investor program and investment options,

CONTACT EMPIRE STATE EB5 REGIONAL CENTER TODAY!

2815 Monroe Avenue, Suite 2100

Rochester, New York 14618

Tel: (866) 763-6515

                                              EMAIL HERE or WEBSITE HERE