EB5 Investment visa

[lewisp]

Anyone have any comments/advice on this investment visa. We have been doing a fair bit of research for the last year on this route into the US that gives you a green card after 2 years continuous investment of $500,000 (used to be $1,000,000) in an approved EB5 investor programme. The popular programme at the moment appears to be the Jay Peak ski resort in Vermont. Andrew Bartlett and his website gives plenty of information on this investment visa but it would be nice to hear from people who have either entered the US this way themselves or know of friends who have invested their way into the States and what their experiences have been.
The EB5 investment visa programme was due to expire in September 2008 but we have had notice today that there is a new bill working its way through the senate and wherever else it needs to go, and there is hope that the programme will be approved for a further 5 years.
The EB5 investment visa gives you entry into the US plus any dependent children under the age of 21 and a green card (again for investors and their children) after a 2 year period. Apparently you can live and work anywhere in the US and your investment gives a monthly income which appears to be around a 5% return.
Any comments from anyone? Gill

[florida4sun]

If you search these forums there is some advice on these.

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by lewisp
Anyone have any comments/advice on this investment visa. We have been doing a fair bit of research for the last year on this route into the US that gives you a green card after 2 years continuous investment of $500,000 (used to be $1,000,000) in an approved EB5 investor programme. The popular programme at the moment appears to be the Jay Peak ski resort in Vermont. Andrew Bartlett and his website gives plenty of information on this investment visa but it would be nice to hear from people who have either entered the US this way themselves or know of friends who have invested their way into the States and what their experiences have been.
The EB5 investment visa programme was due to expire in September 2008 but we have had notice today that there is a new bill working its way through the senate and wherever else it needs to go, and there is hope that the programme will be approved for a further 5 years.
The EB5 investment visa gives you entry into the US plus any dependent children under the age of 21 and a green card (again for investors and their children) after a 2 year period. Apparently you can live and work anywhere in the US and your investment gives a monthly income which appears to be around a 5% return.
Any comments from anyone? Gill
[/quote]

[steph_goodrum]

What I woudl say though is dont take any notice of anything that may or not be going through. If it is due to expire in Sept I would imaginge it is not very likely an application woould get processed before then (assuming you need at least a couple of weeks research etc.
There will always be someone willing to take your money and tell you it will be ok and get rubberstamped but in reality it doesnt always happen tahat way.

Until you have definitve prove it has been extended I would think it safest not to part with any money.

[lewisp]

Dont worry Steph, we are not planning to move to Florida for at least 5 years. My husbands middle name is "planner" he doesnt do anything without exhausting every "what if" beforehand. Its a route that interests us because it doesnt rely on buying or running a business over there to get a visa. He's a Dentist and not business minded so we wouldnt be interested in starting from scratch in a business we would have to re-train for, we're too old. Unfortunately the British dental qualifications are not recognised in the US so he would have to even re-train to practice over there. Yes you have to stump up mega amounts of cash and thats the bit that needs all the research. I would like to try and get to talk to people who have entered the US this way and two forum members have DM'd me with details of an ex-pats site so I will get onto that one next with questions. Gill

[esprit]

My friends did EB5 as a change of status from E2. They did Amlife ( Seattle). I know of two other people who post on another forum I am on and they have both got conditional green cards doing EB5 from the UK, both are Amlife. Vermont sounds good. If the proposed return comes to fruition it is more than you usually get with Amlife but nothing is quaranteed.

The Bill to extend the regional center Eb5 scheme is a reality. It has passed one hurdle and has another to go. I cannot imagine why they would not extend it, it is a win win situation for the US. Plus with new regional centers being added all the time, the whole state of Alabama, and recently LA fikm industry, to cut off all avenues of investment now that the scheme is just beginning to bear fruit would be very stupid indeed.

As a visa vehicle it does take some guts. It is a lot of money and the big thing about it is that the exit strategies for some schemes are not defined and those with defined exit strategies pay far less return. Vermont does have an exit strategy in that you eventually get a condo to sell. Best thought of as a long term investment though.