What Types Of Enterprises Are Allowed Under The EB-5 Program?

A lot of investments are allowed, and there is no real requirement of a type of business. The most popular investments, for regional centers anyway, are hotels, specifically brand name hotels. Marriott is very involved in the EB-5 program, along with the Hyatt, Hilton and a lot of other brand name hotels. The next most popular investment is the senior care-center. There are also wind energy programs, and there are a number of apartment complexes and office buildings. It could be almost anything although those are probably some of the top favorites. 97 percent of all EB-5 cases are regional centers whereas only 3 percent are direct investments, meaning that the person invested in their own business.

How To Go About Finding Investments Or Enterprises That Will Be Approved Under The Program?

People who call me usually ask me to recommend a regional center investment because they have no idea where to invest. The bottom-line for me and really for any attorney would be that we are not financial analysts. We should not recommend a project because then, if something went wrong with the project, the client might come back and blame me or whoever the attorney was. In this case I tell people to first, do their own research. People do not generally like hearing this, but it is one option.

Some people who contact me have already done some initial research, so I give them the names of some licensed broker dealers who are in the business of making recommendations on EB-5 projects. These brokers review projects and do due diligence reports on regional center investments. I would give the person a list of three brokers who I know are out there and who do this type of work, so that the people could feel comfortable they were dealing with somebody who had done research. They would give them a report and they would be able to analyze it and make their own decisions.

For people who do their own review, I give a list of people who are financial analysts, who would do due diligence reports for those clients who were able to source projects on their own.

I also ask what are the issues they have relating to due diligence considerations and discuss those with them. I have a list of due diligence questions that are on my website; give that to all of my clients whereby they are able to compare regional center investments and regional centers by asking a series of questions. They can also add whatever questions they want to that.

This is how I am involved. I will obviously go over any immigration related provision of a prospectus that a client gets once they limit their number to one or two or three different projects. I would go over issues that would relate to the immigration side and how jobs are attributed, so I would review things that relate to the immigration side of the agreement, but not the financial part.

For more information on Finding Enterprises For EB-5, a free initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you’re seeking by calling (310) 477-3000 today.