Developing Projects thru the EB5 Foreign Investor Program ONLINE

[Angelique Tinney]

EB5 Investing - Pairing Foreign Investors with Development Projects

Guest speaker Michael Lai

Michael is owner of Modern Living Real Estate and has orchestrated many real estate development projects in the greater Seattle area via the EB-5 investment program. Tune in to hear how he has done it and details about the EB-5 government program.

From Wikipedia on the EB-5 program:

The EB-5 program is intended to encourage both “foreign investments and economic growth".

EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program, created in 1990, provides a method for eligible Immigrant Investors to become lawful permanent residents—by investing at least $1.8 million to finance a business in the United States that will employ at least 10 American workers. Most immigrant investors who use the EB-5 program invest in a targeted employment area—a rural area or area with high unemployment—which lowers the investment threshold to $900,000.

Applicants have the choice of investing individually, but most choose to work through a “larger investor pool via Regional Centers (RC)”

Program operates thru Federally approved third-party for profit intermediaries that “connect foreign investors with developers in need of funding, and take a commission" called Regional Centers (RC). Regional Centers are usually private, for-profit businesses that are approved by the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

As of 23 April 2020, 78,278 investors have applied for the EB5 program. Most investors—about 80 percent—come from four countries: China, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. In 2014, 85% of the 10,692 EB-5 visas issued were for Chinese nationals according to a study by Savills Studley, a real estate services firm.