EB-5 INVESTMENT IMMIGRATION
A Relatively New Investment Immigration for Foreign Investors
Many foreigners dream of immigrating to the United States but cannot because they do not qualify under one of the Employment, Family or Educational based immigration categories. However, with the increase in worldwide individual wealth, especially in Asia, a relatively new and unknown investment immigration category is becoming a more and more popular avenue for immigration into the United States. This immigration category is based on investment and is known as EB-5 Investment Immigration.
What is the EB-5 Investment Immigration Category?
Under EB-5 Investment Immigration, a foreign investor who makes an investment of $1,000,000 (or $500,000 if the investment is in a targeted employment area), that will create at least 10 new permanent U.S. jobs, will be eligible to apply for a U.S. permanent resident card (commonly known as a “Green Card”) for himself and his family. This visa category was created to stimulate local U.S. economies by encouraging investments from abroad in local U.S. job-creation enterprises. You also need to prove that your investment money was earned by legal means.
This immigration program involves three steps: First, the foreign investor needs to file an application for EB-5 and provide proof that his investment will create at least 10 permanent U.S. jobs, that he has invested either $500,000 or $1,000,000, and that the money invested was legally earned. When this application is approved, the second step is to apply for a two year Conditional Green Card. The final step, after two years of Conditional Green Card, is to convert the Conditional Green Card to U.S. Permanent Green Card.Finding the Best Investment
Under EB-5 Investment Immigration, foreign investors may invest in any U.S. business as long as it meets the minimum job stimulation criteria. However, some businesses are more risky than others and are therefore more prone to fail. Foreign investors should be careful in choosing their investment business to reduce the risks of failure. In today’s weak economy, a lot of businesses did not survive. Many unfortunate investors invested their hard earned money in a business for immigration purposes without really considering the long term economic stability and outlook for the investment. This could result in the loss of their opportunity to obtain a permanent U.S. green card and also place their invested money in jeopardy. Other businesses may be successful from an income and economic perspective, but fail to meet the stringent U.S. employment stimulation criteria for immigration approval.
What our firm strives to do is evaluate various business investments that will meet both the investment and immigration goals – qualify our clients to get investors’ green cards while at the same time minimizing the risk of investment loss. We only use “regional centers” for our clients’ investments. A “regional center” is a business that has already applied and been pre-approved by the USCIS as a business that meets the stringent requirements of the EB-5 investment immigration rules. Further, most regional centers are located in targeted employment areas, so they only require foreign investors to invest $500,000 instead of $1,000,000. Our office does our research and works with only the most stable, conservative, and less risky regional centers for our clients to consider as an investment. We also find regional centers that have a good track record of success. So far, the regional centers that we have used all have had a 100% success rate in EB-5 investment immigration.
An Experienced and Reputable Legal Team to Serve You
The investments for the “EB-5 Investment Immigration” are extremely important investments, because the foreign investors not only have to consider the profitability of their investments, but also most importantly, whether their investments can get them Green Cards or not! Therefore, foreign investors should find an experienced and reputable law firm to serve them.
Our law firm, the Lau & Lau Law Group LLP, is a well known law firm located in San Francisco, California, U.S.A. The firm was founded in 1973 by attorney Edward C.Y. Lau. Mr. Lau is a respected and experienced U.S. lawyer. He has successfully handled many high profile international cases and is often requested to speak at meetings and conventions on both U.S. domestic and international topics. He is also a former U.S. delegate to the Hague Convention on the Enforcement of Foreign Judgments, and is highly regarded for his knowledge in international law.
Our law firm has a varied practice. Our emphasis is in immigration law and international law. Other practice areas include: complex civil litigation, contract disputes, real estate law, family law, estate planning, personal injury, products liability, etc. For more information about the firm, please visit out website http://www.LauNet.Com.
Our firm has staff who can speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, and English. We can provide videoconferencing services via Skype for face-to-face communication. We occasionally make trips to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other Pacific Rim countries as the need arises. We will let you know our schedule at that time.
Our office is conveniently located in the San Francisco financial district. Chinatown and the Hilton Hotel are only one block away from our office. The USCIS San Francisco Office is also just two blocks away from our office.
Helping Our New Immigrant Clients in Adjusting Their lives in the U.S.
It is difficult for new immigrants to adjust their lives in a new country. Everything is so unfamiliar in language, culture, customs, etc., which make them feel lost. Our firm will try to help our new immigrant clients in providing information on schools, housing, cars, insurance, investments, taxes, etc., so that they can quickly integrate into American society.
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