Why is the EB-1 visa now the best option for EB-5 visa investors? Should EB-5 visa investors wait over 3 years for a temporary green card when they can get a permanent green card in as little as 1.5 years under EB-1C category?

Recently released USCIS numbers clearly prove that a very high percentage of EB-5 visa investors who chose to invest in regional centers did not get their permanent green cards due to widespread fraud. The sad and shocking story is that none of the regional center marketers ever disclose these materially factual statistics to EB-5 visa investors when soliciting their investments.

In the US (and most other jurisdictions), failure to disclose material facts to investors qualifies as securities fraud, and yet we see regional centers commit securities fraud quite openly against EB-5 visa investors.

I-526
Year	Applied	Approved	Denied	Pending
2010	1953	1369	165	1125
2011	3805	1571	372	3347
2012	6041	3677	957	5018
2013	6346	3699	943	7131
2014	10923	4925	1169	12453
2015	14373	8756	1051	17367
I-829
Year	Applied	Approved	Denied	Pending
2012	712	736	60	1013
2013	1217	844	44	1345
2014	2516	1603	178	2075
2015	2767	1067	11	4049

Unscrupulous immigration attorneys, Regional center promoters and marketers deliberately conceal the important fact from investors that it is expected that EB-5 visa investors will take at least 2-3 years to get a temporary green card under EB-5 visa category, and an additional 2.5 years to get a permanent green card. In this period, the investor faces an unnecessary delay that can be easily bypassed simply by using the EB-1C visa option, with which investors can get a permanent green card in as little as a year and a half to two years.

Some of the advantages of EB-1C are as follows:

1) Very little chance of fraud, compared to rampant fraud seen in regional centers in the EB-5 visa program.

2) Significantly lower investment amount. In EB-5 visa, a minimum investment of $500,000 is needed, whereas I've had clients get approved with even $350,000 investment in EB-1C visa category.

3) There is total flexibility about location: EB-1C visa investors face no restrictions about location, whereas EB-5 visa investors see significant location based restrictions if they invest only $500,000, and investors have to invest minimum $1 Million to avoid location based restrictions.

4) The EB-5 visa program has onerous proof of fund requirements, whereas the fund documentation requirements are definitely not as stringent in EB-1C visa program.

5) The job creation requirements are a lot more onerous in EB-5 visa, and I've seen that creating even 4 jobs suffices for an EB-1C visa.

6) Unlike the EB-5 visa program, there is no conditional green card in EB-1C visa program.

7) The time to get a permanent green card under EB-1 visa program ranges from 1.5 to 2 years, whereas it takes almost 5 years to get a permanent green card under EB-5 visa category. Business owners & executives can immediately move to the US on L1A visa, and get their green card in hand within a matter of months, whereas EB-5 visa holders have to wait for about two years to just get a temporary green card.

Keeping the above factors in mind, most investors are now choosing to go with EB-1C visa as it is a lot cheaper, faster, safer and easier to get compared to the EB-5 visa.

If you are a business owner or high net worth individual interested in migrating to the US, please hire our team. We offer a turnkey solution and have a solid track record of success, as we believe in delivering results and not excuses to our clients. That is why we have a 100% fee refund guarantee and freedom from fraud guarantee, while our competitors usually don't offer such guarantees.

Mohammed Shaikh, MBA (Accounting), CFE, Licensed Business & RE Broker (CA & FL)
Online:  http://www.smartbusinessbroker.com Phone: +1 407 535 0616

Should EB-5 visa investors trust self-proclaimed Due Diligence "experts" who fail to properly advise EB-5 visa investors?

It seems that several self-proclaimed due diligence "experts" are deliberately complicit in aiding and abetting the act of defrauding EB-5 visa investors.

In the US, failure to disclose material facts while offering / selling securities to an investor is known as securities fraud. Pretty much every single Regional center has committed securities fraud by failing to disclose some (or all) of the following facts to EB-5 visa investors:

1) Regional Centers, as well as risky (and usually fraudulent) direct offerings such as E3 Investment Group (run by Matthew Gordon AKA Matt Gordon), Twistee Treat, Marcos Pizza offerings by Brian Hall, Voodoo BBQ offered by Fred Burgess & Joe Sloboda, etc., usually have significant conflict of interest built into their offerings. A failure to clearly disclose this material fact constitutes securities fraud.

2) Regional Centers usually violate securities laws by illegally offering and selling securities in the US and / or abroad. As a matter of fact, I have yet to see even ONE regional center that has offered / sold securities in a lawful manner in China, India, Russia and Mexico. A failure to disclose the ILLEGAL offering and sale of securities is clearly an instance of securities fraud in the same way the failure to clearly disclose the conflict of interest constitutes securities fraud.

3) The due diligence "experts" regularly fail to honestly disclose the fraud and conflict of interest committed by regional centers as they get repeat business from regional centers, and won't say or do anything to antagonize regional centers.

4) Regional centers and fraudulent direct investments have truly terrible exit strategies and offer meager ROI.

5) Regional Centers and fraudulent direct investments often have junk fees known as administrative fees, which are used to pay high (and usually ILLEGAL) commissions to visa / immigration agents.

6) Capital loss is commonly experienced by those who invest in regional centers and risky direct investments. As a matter of fact, over 95% of regional centers have a track record of capital losses for EB-5 visa investors.

7) Per the latest USCIS figures, less than 50% of the EB-5 visa investors who choose to invest in regional centers get their permanent green card. See link at http://www.uscis.gov/tools/reports-studies/immigration-forms-data and compare the data for I-829 approvals and look at the number of I-526 approvals for years prior to that. i.e. in 2012, over 3600 I-526 petitions were approved, but only 1600 I-829 petitions were approved in 2014, which means that there are about 2000 petitions that still haven't received approvals. Not only that, the percentage of I-829 denials are now in excess of 11%. The so-called due diligence experts also usually don't disclose that due to heightened scrutiny, the number of I-526 denials is now in excess of 12%, and is expected to significantly increase.

8) The so-called due diligence experts usually don't disclose the fact that in 2014 alone, over 60 regional centers have already been shut down.

9) So-called due diligence experts seem to be unwilling to disclose the fact that regional centers are most probably going to be shut out of the EB-5 visa program from after December 2015.

10) Regional centers seem to be unwilling to clearly disclose the fact that their promoters are like drug addicts: They are addicted to OPM (Other People's Money). It is quite simple and easy to ask the promoters just how much money are they actually contributing and how much equity are they keeping. Why is it that the promoters of regional centers invest 1-200,000 of their own money, and want to keep over 80% of the equity, whereas those who invest USD 500,000 of their own money get only 2-3% of the equity?

11) Regional Centers don't seem to be willing to disclose the fact that they not only procure goods and services from related parties at inflated prices, they also engage in rampant nepotism by hiring related individuals at inflated salaries instead of openly hiring managers and staff in a competitive manner.

EB-5 visa investors now know and understand that Genuine Direct investment businesses are the safest option for EB-5 visa investors in every single respect. 

Here are some of the critical reasons that EB-5 visa investors should ALWAYS choose Genuine Direct Investment Businesses and avoid regional centers:

1. In a Genuine Direct Investment Business, it is quite unusual to encounter fraud or conflict of interest. This alone is THE biggest reason why EB-5 visa investors usually experience capital loss if they opt for regional centers or unsafe Direct Investments (such as Twistee Treats or Voodoo or Marcos Pizza), while those who opt for Genuine Direct Investment Businesses usually NEVER experience capital loss. 
2. EB-5 visa investors who choose Genuine Direct Investment Businesses usually earn annual ROI of 15% to 40%, while those who select regional centers usually earn 0-2% annual ROI. 
3. Genuine Direct Investment Businesses offer easy exit strategies to EB-5 visa investors while those who invest in regional centers experience TERRIBLE exit strategies. 
4. Regional Centers usually commit securities fraud and securities law violations while this is usually unheard of in Genuine Direct Investment Businesses. 
5. EB-5 visa investors usually get capital gains if they invest in a Genuine Direct Investment Business and almost NEVER get capital gains if they invest in a regional center. 
6. EB-5 visa investors in Genuine Direct Investment Businesses usually see faster processing and approval of their petitions, while it takes much longer for EB-5 visa investors to get their immigrant visa through regional centers.  
7. EB-5 visa investors in Genuine Direct Investment Businesses have a higher chance of getting their permanent green card, while those who opt for regional centers have a lower chance of getting their green card.

The ONLY safe, fast and usually profitable way to get an EB-5 visa is through investment in a GENUINE Direct Investment Business. An even faster and easier way to get a PERMANENT green card is to apply for the L1A visa and then the EB-1C visa.

Many immigration attorneys and so-called due diligence "experts" fail to disclose important facts to investors. One such set of facts is that it takes 3 years to get a temporary green card and an additional 30+ months to get a permanent green card in EB-5 visa category, while investors can get a permanent green card in less than 2 years with EB-1C category visas.

The advantages of EB-1C over EB-5 visas are as follows:

1) Very little chance of fraud, compared to rampant fraud seen in regional centers in the EB-5 visa program.

2) Significantly lower investment amount. In EB-5 visa, a minimum investment of $500,000 is needed, whereas I've had clients get approved with even $350,000 investment in EB-1C visa category.

3) There is total flexibility about location: EB-1C visa investors face no restrictions about location, whereas EB-5 visa investors see significant location based restrictions if they invest only $500,000, and investors have to invest minimum $1 Million to avoid location based restrictions.

4) The EB-5 visa program has onerous proof of fund requirements, whereas the fund documentation requirements are definitely not as stringent in EB-1C visa program.

5) The job creation requirements are a lot more onerous in EB-5 visa, and I've seen that creating even 4 jobs suffices for an EB-1C visa.

6) Unlike the EB-5 visa program, there is no conditional green card in EB-1C visa program.

7) The time to get a permanent green card under EB-1 visa program ranges from 1-2 years, whereas it takes almost 5 years to get a permanent green card under EB-5 visa category. Business owners & executives can immediately move to the US on L1A visa, and get their green card in hand within a matter of months, whereas EB-5 visa holders have to wait for about two years to just get a temporary green card.

Keeping the above factors in mind, most investors are now choosing to go with EB-1C visa as it is a lot cheaper, faster, safer and easier to get compared to the EB-5 visa.

If you are a business owner or high net worth individual interested in migrating to the US, please hire our team. We offer a turnkey solution and have a solid track record of success, as we believe in delivering results and not excuses to our clients. That is why we have a 100% fee refund guarantee while our competitors usually don't offer such a guarantee.

Mohammed Shaikh, MBA (Accounting), CFE, Licensed Business & RE Broker (CA & FL)
Online:  http://www.smartbusinessbroker.com Phone: +1 407 535 0616

Will proposed legislative changes ensure that regional centers can't continue committing fraud and abuse?

It looks like politicians are trying to avoid getting tainted with the fraud that is so widespread in the regional center program. Just 2 weeks ago, a powerful Senator from CA called for the repeal of the regional center (Pilot) program, and just recently, a lawsuit (see link http://watchdog.org/246639/eb5-gerrymander-lawsuit/) was filed that may actually end up causing the USCIS to discontinue the abusive practice of granting TEA designation to regional centers which don't deserve it at all.

At the very least, this lawsuit is sure to reinforce the demands made by Senator Grassley in S1501, and at this point in time, S1501 seems to be the only bill that seems to have a remote possibility of passing.

The proposed changes to S1501 are as follows, and it seems that even these changes shall suffice to significantly eliminate the fraud and abuse committed by most regional centers:

1. In order to qualify for the benefits of a high unemployment area, a project would need to be in or adjacent to a census tract with 150% of the national unemployment rate. This will be a major change from the current rules that don’t specify the size of the area, and will cause most regional centers to lose eligibility for fund raising.
2. The proposed legislation would also allow projects in census tracts with a poverty rate of at least 20%.
3. Manufacturing and government infrastructure projects would have their own separate categories, qualifying for the lower fundraising level, as would businesses in certain federally designated economic development zones.
4. The general fundraising level would be raised to $1.2 million from $1 million and the lower level would be raised to $800,000 from $500,000.
5. Four thousand of the 10,000 EB-5 visas would be set aside only for businesses or projects that qualify at the lower level, up from the 3,000 in the legislation today. (In practice, nearly all the 10,000 visas today are for the lower fundraising level because the bulk of the country can qualify as a “targeted employment area”).
6. The MOST IMPORTANT proposed change is that the changes be applied immediately to all petitions that weren't already approved when this new bill is passed. 

There are also several VERY strong fraud prevention and detection measures proposed in the legislation, that will cause several regional centers to go out of business.

Why should EB-5 visa investors choose Genuine Direct Investment Businesses?

EB-5 visa investors need to remember that it is very hard to earn money and easy to burn money.

A Genuine Direct Investment Business is the safest, fastest and usually profitable way to get an EB-5 visa.

A Genuine Direct Investment Business has the following characteristics:

It is 100% owned by the EB-5 visa investor.

Smart Business Broker advises clients to invest in safe businesses such as reputable franchises, restaurants, banquet halls, used car lots, groceries, child care, etc. and not in risky franchises such as Twistee Treats or Voodoo BBQ, as most franchises are unsuitable for EB-5 visa investors due to their inability to profitably create 10 jobs, due to which capital losses and EB-5 visa denials are common with risky franchises and regional centers.

Genuine Direct Investment Businesses are easily salable in the open market, while there is no market for partnership or regional center securities, risky franchises etc.

What are the advantages of choosing a Genuine Direct Investment Business to get the EB-5 visa?

The EB-5 visa investor has full ownership of their business and this helps eliminate conflict of interest and fraud, and results in higher earnings and capital gains.

The EB-5 visa investor usually earns more in annual profits than they'd get from a regional center in 5 years.

EB-5 visa investors who choose Genuine Direct Investment Businesses usually earns solid capital gains upon exit, while those who invest in risky franchises or regional centers usually experience capital loss.

The EB-5 visa investor has an easy exit strategy and can sell their business (usually for a profit) as soon as they get their permanent green card.

It is easier and faster to get the I-526 approval (temporary green card) and I-829 approval using a Genuine Direct Investment Business in comparison to regional centers.

Less than 50% of EB-5 visa investors who chose regional centers and risky franchises are able to get their I-829 approved.

EB-5 visa investors should avoid those who refuse to guarantee full disclosure of all material information and freedom from fraud and conflict of interest.

EB-5 visa investors interested in getting their EB-5 visa quickly and safely should contact SmartBusinessBroker.com.

Mohammed Shaikh, MBA, CFE, Licensed Business and RE Broker (CA & FL)
Smart Business Broker Inc.,
Orlando, FL
Phone: +1 407 535 0616 

Smart Business Broker offers a full fee refund to their EB-5 visa clients who don't earn at least $100,000 in operating profits before they get their permanent green card

EB-5 visa investors who sign up with Smart Business Broker Inc. as paying clients are now offered a 100% fee refund guarantee in case they don't earn at least $100,000 in operating profits before they get their permanent green card.

Smart Business Broker Inc. offers a fraud free process that helps EB-5 visa investors get their green card in a safe, quick and usually profitable manner by investing in Genuine Direct Investment Businesses, which is why their clients haven't experienced losses.

EB-5 visa investors who sign up as paying clients with Smart Business Broker get a turnkey solution that comes with complete peace of mind that they're getting the best service and advice in the market, simply because Smart Business Broker believes in putting their money where their mouth is, and strongly believes in aligning their interest with their clients' interests.

Smart Business Broker's CEO offers every client a guarantee of freedom from fraud in the contract itself, while regional center CEO's usually refuse to offer such guarantees as they not only violate laws and engage in conflict of interest, but also commit fraud.

Regional centers usually don't offer such deals, where EB-5 visa investors get a fee refund guarantee in case the business doesn't earn any profits and are also guaranteed a freedom from fraud.

With Smart Business Broker Inc., EB-5 visa investors don't have to pay any junk fees such as administrative fees, and get the continuing advice and support of a CPA, Attorney and Business and Real Estate Broker till they get their permanent green card.

Why should EB-5 visa investors choose Genuine Direct Investment Businesses?

EB-5 visa investors need to remember that it is very hard to earn money and easy to burn money.

A Genuine Direct Investment Business is the safest, fastest and usually profitable way to get an EB-5 visa.

A Genuine Direct Investment Business has the following characteristics:

It is 100% owned by the EB-5 visa investor.

Smart Business Broker advises clients to invest in safe businesses such as reputable franchises, restaurants, banquet halls, used car lots, groceries, child care, etc. and not in risky franchises such as Twistee Treats or Voodoo BBQ, as most franchises are unsuitable for EB-5 visa investors due to their inability to profitably create 10 jobs, due to which capital losses and EB-5 visa denials are common with risky franchises and regional centers.

Genuine Direct Investment Businesses are easily salable in the open market, while there is no market for partnership or regional center securities, risky franchises etc.

What are the advantages of choosing a Genuine Direct Investment Business to get the EB-5 visa?

The EB-5 visa investor has full ownership of their business and this helps eliminate conflict of interest and fraud, and results in higher earnings and capital gains.

The EB-5 visa investor usually earns more in annual profits than they'd get from a regional center in 5 years.

EB-5 visa investors who choose Genuine Direct Investment Businesses usually earns solid capital gains upon exit, while those who invest in risky franchises or regional centers usually experience capital loss.

The EB-5 visa investor has an easy exit strategy and can sell their business (usually for a profit) as soon as they get their permanent green card.

It is easier and faster to get the I-526 approval (temporary green card) and I-829 approval using a Genuine Direct Investment Business in comparison to regional centers.

Less than 50% of EB-5 visa investors who chose regional centers and risky franchises are able to get their I-829 approved.

EB-5 visa investors should avoid those who refuse to guarantee full disclosure of all material information and freedom from fraud and conflict of interest.

EB-5 visa investors interested in getting their EB-5 visa quickly and safely should contact SmartBusinessBroker.com.

Mohammed Shaikh, Licensed Business and RE Broker (CA & FL)
Smart Business Broker Inc.,
Orlando, FL
Phone: +1 407 535 0616