Bona Fide and “EB-5ed”: The Impetus for a Genuine Job Recovery

Information on the wonders and blessings of EB-5 ImmigrantInvestor Regional Centers and their positive impact on local economies aboundsonline…in the websites of said Regional Centers.  Unfortunately, the tale of the EB5 tape tellsa different story in many cases. Statistically speaking, there are a handful of EB-5 Regional Centerswhich can lay claim to meaningful job creation and financial impact numbers,and even the impressive figures cited by industry proponents rely largely uponthese big players.  The rest of them,well…not much going on except the marketing.If we take off our immigration attorney hats, however, thereis a bigger picture here, and one more directly relevant for the manifestationof the job creation purposes envisioned by Congress when it introduced …

Better Get that EB-5 Regional Center Application in ASAP…

The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that USCIS DirectorAlejandro Mayorkas is the person who behind the new proposed fee increases,which would take effect this summer after a public comment period.  Across the board, they raise the cost offiling petitions for permanent and temporary residency for foreignprofessionals and entrepreneurs by an average of 10%.The most commonly filed petition, which is used by UScitizens and permanent residents to petition for relatives outside of thecountry, will go up from $355-$420, an 18% increase.  The WSJ opined that an increase of $65 isunlikely to affect the filing of family petitions, and I agree.  The cost of applying for US citizenship –form N 400 — will remain at $675, since the fee went up three years ago to thetune of 69%…

Life on the Border: Another Tragic and Needless Death in Juarez, Mexico

When I arrived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in 1987 as a firsttour Foreign Service Officer, the place at which I arrived was very differentthan the war zone I visited this past December. Ciudad Juarez was already a dusty, dirty and crowded desert town andoccasional crimes made the headlines: young women who would disappear only tobe found buried in the surrounding desert; tourists would be regularly robbedat gunpoint; and, of course, the drug crime was in its comparatively nascentstage (compared to today.)  I got to ridewith the Federales on several big busts, including one we got to by helicopter,which featured all the elements of a good Tarantino script:  a desert airstrip, an abandoned farmhouse,and a ton of cocaine bricks.  Still, Juarez was a sort-of livable place.&#1…

Y entonces que esperas??”- Editorial/Comentario EB5 Por Abogado Jose Latour

Comenzando misegundo año concentrando en la visa EB5, hay una estadística que se destacaentre las muchas asociadas con el programa de visa de inversor: la escasez delatinoamericanos que se comprometen a participar en lo que probablemente es lamejor oportunidad para realizar residencia norteamericana vía la inversión.  Dado que soy hispano, y dado que micastellano sumamente imperfecto aún suele ser entendido y bien recibido enLatinoamérica, ha sido lógico enfocar en los países que hablan nuestro idioma.Sin embargo, la cantidad de latinos que expresan gran interés en la visa EB5consistentemente se materializa en un porcentaje muy pequeño de personas quellegan a invertir en dicha visa…porque? Como la tarea míaes en presentar las mejores oportunidades EB5 en las conferen…