Choosing an EB-5 Project
All EB-5 projects claim to offer an immigration vehicle to the United States. With over 225 Regional Centers in the United States, there are many EB-5 visa projects to choose from.
EB-5 Visa Consultants
Firms offering EB-5 visa advice and consultancy services are typically driven by the percentage they retain from the administration fee the investor is charged for becoming part of the EB-5 project, administration fee's vary across projects which varies their income.
Many firms claim to be unbiased and independent but regardless of the marketing hype in many instances this independence is questionable.
Before making contact with an EB-5 Visa Consultant, please review the important points below:
- Not all EB-5 Projects work with EB-5 Consultants therefore the advice is limited and comparisons can only be made on the projects that co-operate with them. Will the advisor really promote a project which will not pay them?
- Many EB-5 Consultants are not qualified to provide Immigration advice unless they are Immigration Lawyers, are they up to date with the changes in immigration procedures or reciting an outdated process?
- Is the EB-5 Consultant a licensed Securites Broker?
- EB-5 Consultants claim to be paid the same fee from all EB-5 projects - timescales and stage for payment vary resulting in favourable projects.
- Would you place $500,000+ at risk on an unqualified opinion?
- Many EB-5 Projects are able to offer an administrative fee discount when no referral fee is payable to a Consultant - making contact with a consultant may result in your name being passed to many EB-5 Projects and your subsequent involvement in a project may prevent any administrative fee discount.
Immigration Attorneys
Not all Immigration Attorneys specialize in the EB-5 Visa category, those that do may be knowledgeable on many projects. Certain Immigration Attorneys do not accept referral/finders fees for referring clients to the EB-5 project due to conflict of interest and will apply any credit directly to the investor.
Many Immigration Attorneys attend AILA (American Immigration Lawyers Association) EB-5 conferences and are well versed in EB-5 matters and current offerings.
Contact the projects yourself
An EB-5 project may appeal to you because you have expertise in the industry the project encourages, you may find one project more interesting than another, the project location may be a deciding factor or the privileges a project provides to it's EB-5 partners.
Requesting the prospectus from the projects of your choice armed with your own accountant and immigration lawyer may be the best route yet. The most popular EB-5 projects have a lot of coverage and starting with these may be your best strategy.