Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

Just thinking about it, how is that possible, even with the continuing resolution, according to USCIS it takes them 14 months to process an I-526. There are still some visa numbers available for people who aren't Chinese but in the visa bulletin it says:

So doesn't that mean if your I-526 process through to visa issuance isn't done by December 11th, you aren't going to get it?

Who would have put in an I-526 knowing the cutoff was September 30th?

So basically, USCIS is looking for people to (a) throw away $500,000 on a stupid investment and (b) not get a visa because of the sunset.

If you filed an I-526 now, you'd have to be quite brave to assume you're going to get the visa.

And then there's this: https://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mga/OIG_mga-032415.pdf

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

I am still not sure that you grasp what my "multi-tranch" explanation means for EB-5 investors. The "heavy weight financiers and big name players" are involved in part because the EB-5 investors are providing the highest risk capital, that is first in line to be wiped out of the project is less than spectacularly successful. If the project is spectacularly successful then everybody is happy, but if the project is moderately successful, which is the most likely outcome, everyone is happy, except for the EB-5 investors who have "absorbed the loss". If the project is only marginally successful the insurance companies, pension funds, and banks will still get their money and a return.

In other words, the deck is heavily stacked against the EB-5 investors, and it is clearly laid out in the details of the deal structure, unfortunately some EB-5 investors believe the hype about "successful projects" without realizing that the success of the project is built using their "free" money.

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

Given that Congress didn't renew it in a timely manner, methinks there won't be any more investors in any regional centre until it is put on a firm footing.

Like I said, who is going to file an I-526, knowing that USCIS takes 14 months to process it and the cutoff for processing is December 11th? The only people who would are people who assume it will be continued, but given that it wasn't properly extended, you've got to be a serious risk taker.

Look at that DHS OIG report I posted a link to, it completely slates CanAm. You'd have to be mad.

Or very uninformed, who are these uninformed people who have $500,000 lying around?

I mean really are you that keen on living in the US as a conditional permanent resident?

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

The low numbers of Chinese investors suggests that it was not promoted by the agents who organize the EB5 roadshows throughout China.They generally have a pretty good idea of what is viable and what is not.

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

From the SEC:

“The alleged fraud ran the gamut from false statements to deceptive financial transactions to outright theft,” said Andrew Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.� “As alleged in our complaint, the defendants diverted millions of EB-5 investor dollars to their own pockets, leaving little money for construction of the research facility investors were told would be built and thereby putting the investors’ funds and their immigration petitions in jeopardy.”

https://www.sec.gov/news/pressrelease/2016-69.html

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

The Boston Globe has been running stories about this over the past week. Here is today's:

Red flags preceded fraud allegations at Jay Peak Resort

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

Looks like the journalist who wrote that has been reading what I have been saying for years! :rolleyes:

Re: EB5, Vermont Regional Center scandal
 

You've always been ahead of the curve!

Ian