Archives for June 2014

In this episode we talk to Immigration Attorney Mona Shah on the difference between Regional Center and Direct investments with regard to the actual EB-5 immigration petition

 

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Mona is the managing partner of Mona Shah and Associates located on Broadway in New York City.  She has over 19 years of legal experience, with more than 15 years concentrated in U.S. immigration and litigation. Mona has hands-on experience setting up, working with and establishing EB-5 Regional Centers nationwide, as well as an impressive track record of many years handling complex immigration matters, including private non-regional center investor cases.

 

In this episode you will hear:

• A compassion of the EB-5 Direct investments vs. Regional Centers from an Immigration standpoint
• How Regional Centers make use of ‘indirect’ jobs
• The indirect job risk of the ‘last investor’
• General guidelines for Direct Investments and Regional Centers
• Examples of petitions for Direct Investments and Regional Centers
• Legal issues that should be considered when choosing between the 2 programs
• How different EB-5 models may work better for various industries (i.e. Hotels vs. Restaurant franchises)
• How the paperwork may be reduced for ‘self-directed’ EB-5 investments, but the importance of the business plan is increased.
  • shameless plug for my firm’s free  ‘Matter of Ho’ business plan checklist.

 

Mona also shares with us:

• Business Advice: The KISS principle:  Keep it Simple Savvy Investor (I may have fudged that last part)
• Her personal habits that she attributes to her success: She contentiously reads books not just to expand her professional knowledge, but also to increase her cultural understanding and empathy
• Parting Thoughts: She thanks me for my show!  (ahhh… I’m flattered)

In this episode we talk to Immigration Attorney John Gezelius on Proving the Source of US Investment Funds for Entrepreneur and Investor visas

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John Gezelius is an attorney in the Los Angeles suburb of Tustin, California. He is a 1978 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and attended law school at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California, where he received both a Juris Doctor degree and then later a Master of Law in transnational business and law. He has a transactional practice and his focus is on investment related immigration.

 

In this episode you will hear:

• A high level description of the EB-5 Visa
• Why it is important to fully document the source of investment funds
• How his background as a US Air Force Intelligence Officer gave him a unique opportunity to detect fraud
• How Money Laundering and Fraud detection is the inverse of proving the source of funds
• The three key sources for fund documentation:

1. Payment
2. Deposit
3. Taxes

• Why having a trusting and forthcoming relationship with an investor client is key to your mutual success

 

John also shares with us:

• Immigration Services offered: EB-5 visa representation and source of funds documentation
• Business Advice: Paint a legal picture so that the only answer will be “of course”
• His personal habits that attributes to his success: I’m always afraid of screwing something up, so I often over prepare (and make it easy to find what I have done in the petition).
• Parting Thoughts: I wish I had started sooner, the businesses are fascinating and the relationships are great… I’d have more friends (and contacts) if I had.

In this episode we talk to Economist Ismael Fernandez, PhD on EB-5 Targeted Employment Area (TEA) Designations using Geographical Alignment of Tract Employment Statistics (GATES) Analysis

 

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Dr. Fernandez is the chief economist and co-founder of Foreign Investor Resource Group. He is responsible for the planning and execution of most services provided by FIRG and ensuring the quality and accuracy of all the economic and employment studies provided by the company. In addition to the immigration arena, he has extensive knowledge in the fields of risk management, financial accounting, and strategic decision making. He holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia.

 

In this episode you will hear:

• What a Targeted Employment Area is
• The benefit of a Targeted Employment Area to EB-5 investors
• The drawback of Targeted Employment Areas
• How to obtain a TEA designation
• What a Geographical Alignment of Tract Employment Statistics analysis is and how it can be beneficial for hopeful TEAs

 

Ismael also shares with us:

• His personal habits that attributes to his success: Patience and Perseverance
• Parting Thoughts: Interview, select, then trust the professionals you hire.