Bellyfish

Dear All,

I just joined the forum last week and would like to say

Merry Christmas and

A happy new year to you all

I have been thinking about migrating to USA for a while, after some discussions with various parties, it seems that EB5 is the most interesting one. But the most important thing is the project, a good project not only gets you the green card but also good return for your money, a bad one, not only cost all your money but your green card.

So I spent some time on assessing different projects, however there are more than 200 of them, so it would be great if anybody had done it before and share their experience, or if there are anybody who are thinking the same and would like to share the information.

Some people recommend American life, however, they have a case against UCIS at the moment, so it might be good idea if we do not restrict only to American life.

The criteria I think are important are:

1). Has I-924 approval
2). Has big job creation margin. for example for each EB5, it can
create 13 or more than 10 which is required.
3). Eb5 money is only 20-30% of total project investment
4). Clear explanation of how to return money to investors or any financial collateral.
5). Ideally there are also some investment from ordinary American, it means it is a project with a good business plan.
6). Run by experience management team with track record
7). not a estate project which only rent the place out. it is hard to convince UCIS about indirect job creation.
8). In good developed area, not complete undeveloped area

Bill

ginstwin

Difficult to fond many schemes with all of the criteria you require.

I have gone with American Lifes Marriott LA project.

I was attracted by the proven track record and the Marriott "name".

My I-526 has only recently been approved so i dont have any return yet nor any experience in exit route etc.

Whatever you decide you need patience and more patience. Its not for the faint hearted.

Bellyfish

Yes, it is quite a daunting task to screen all the projects and rank them in those criteria. But the two most important for me are Job creation and risk of losing money.

American Lifes Marriott LA project is a very good project, it runs by well known firm; the job creation is quite good during construction period and also operation period As long as Marriott is not tenant.

I do not know much about the project, but from what I can see it is equity investment, which means you own share of the company or project and can get dividend if the project makes money.

If you or American Lifes can find somebody buy your share, then you can exit out of your investment.

Congratulation for your I-526, it marks a excellent start, finger cross that in two year time you will get green card and your money back.

Bill

cranston

Hi Bill and Merry Christmas

I need to quote Milton Friedman's golden rule of Economics, "there is no such thing as a free lunch"

3). Eb5 money is only 20-30% of total project investment
4). Clear explanation of how to return money to investors or any financial collateral.
5). Ideally there are also some investment from ordinary American, it means it is a project with a good business plan.

You are not going to find anything like to fit those criteria. The reason you get the GC is because it's a crap project and there is no other way to find the funding for the project.

If you really want an EB5 Regional Center it's a matter of finding the least worst scheme.

cranston

Exactly...will put

Bellyfish

Hi, Cranston,

Thank you for the reality check and remind me the risk of the EB5, that is why I listed some points which I think are crucial to reduce the risk. your three golden rules cover them all.

One good news is that UCIS is trying to improve the quality of EB5 by introducing I-924 and asking each project to submit project report every half year.

I know it is highly risk investment, that is why I did not do it in last 3 years, now American economy looks in good shape and is recovering, some projects such as hotels, shopping centres might be good bet.

I am struggling to find the detailed information about EB5 projects, From UCIS web site you can only see the list, but you can not even see which year the projects got approved.

As UCIS changed the way on how to calculate the job creation, I prefer the newer projects than the old ones. Is there any web sites I can get general information about those projects?

I read some posts in this forum, but most of them are related to American lifes , a bit wider coverage will be helpful.

Thank you and Ginstwin for sharing your experience.

Bill

cranston

Shopping Centers > I think the trend of buying online is killing the need for shopping centers.

Hotels, I think are a more interesting bet.

Sorry can't recommend any good websites.

Bellyfish

Cranston,

I agree with you, there are more and more people doing shopping online, however, there are still market for big shopping mall.

The challenge I have at the moment is that I can not get the basic information about each project, or the most recent projects, so I can rank them and find the less risky projects.

Most of information I found online are from the project site, which looks more like a advertisement than realistic estimations.

I know I am interest in the projects which are debt rather than equity based, I know I like projects with EB5 investment below 30%, but it is not easy to find those basic information.

Bill

lansbury

They have just broken ground on one of the Marriott Resident hotels in the Pearl District in Portland Oregon. That has EB-5 investment as its funding. Might be a starting point for research.

TopSec

Butting in here but this may be what I had been told about ... someone mentioned to me that there were some apartments being built in Houston and were for sale 'with a green card', so I guess what it is is that you could buy your GC for $1m. Is this a 'legit' process?

cranston

Unlikely, part of the EB5 visa deal is the creation of 10 jobs by the applicant. I don't see how apartments can fulfill that condition. If someone knows please say so.

This could be what you are talking about. http://houstoneb5.com/featuredproject.html

TopSec

Thats what I thought Just wondered if this is what went on.

cranston

Hi Bill, I just dont agree with you, take a look at this link from zerohedge. So yes my local Mall is busy but I don't see the need for new Malls.

The data is one year old but my guess is this trend is going to increase.

Speedwell

Those Astoria apartments could easily employ at least 10 staff, especially if they are a part-retail development. I was going out at lunch anyway; I'll drive by the area to see if there's anything going on there.

cranston

My wild guess is the total cost to build is $50 million. At 10 staff per EB5 applicant they would need to create at least 500 jobs (if each investor puts up $1 million).

I don't see it.