In addition to financial and tax advisors, the investor is well advised to work with a U.S. immigration attorney who is experienced in dealing with regional center EB-5 cases. Among other things, such an attorney can assist in helping the investor avoid potential land mines that exist in this program. In addition, the experienced EB-5 attorney should be able to tell the investor which regional centers have a long track record of immigration success and which have had no successful petitions whatsoever. Typically, experienced EB-5 immigration counsel can provide a reasonable number of regional centers with which the attorney has familiarity regarding immigration-related issues and approval history. The financial and tax advisors would then perform due diligence on the specified regional centers in order to advise the investor on all financial aspects of the investment. We provide our clients with a due diligence list of questions at our Web site, www.eb5immigration.com.
The regional center EB-5 program is not the only U.S. investor immigration program. If the investor would prefer to invest in his own business in the U.S., consideration could be given to an individual EB-5. While the amount of the investment would be the same-$500,000 or $1 million depending on the location-the employment creation requirement is different. Unlike with a regional center, where indirect employment in the community is sufficient, the individual EB-5 requires proof of direct employment of ten full-time U.S. citizen or permanent resident employees by the business in which the investment is made.
However, it is the regional center EB-5 program that has become extremely popular in attracting wealthy investors from around the world. With appropriate advice from immigration, business, tax and estates advisors, the international investor may get a significant benefit, while at the same time providing a benefit to the U.S. economy.
H. Ronald Klasko ([email protected]) is the Philadelphia-based managing partner at Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, LLP. A former national president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, he presently serves as chair of that organization's EB-5 committee.