[Fraud Warning: in the preceding days, I have learned of at least one California real estate broker as well as of several unscrupulous Chinese brokers who are marketing the “buy real estate, get a green card” concept despite it NOT being law. Please be careful out there!. Sharon will soon be joining me on Immigration Insider with her Chinese language blog and she’ll be covering this issue but in the meantime, I ask our Chinese-American readers to convey this warning to folks back home: buying real estate will NOT get you a green card under current U.S. law!] When the third breathless realtor friend called on the same day, I just had to laugh: here I was a day away from leaving for my long Asia trip and was again explaining the difference between the introduction of a bill to Congress…

First Objective Critique of "Homes for Visa" Legislation…

Given the typically "unglobal" American world perspective, many U.S. ventures seeking EB-5 capital approach guys like me with the mistaken presumption that “it’s all about America”, that is, that U.S. permanent residency is so coveted that even the most fiscally-flaccid EB-5 offering well nonetheless be well-received abroad. Let me clarify that error:  it’s all about opportunity.While Canada and countless other nations are working with China to channel their giant cash reserves toward their borders, the U.S. — both the USG via its slo-mo fulfillment of promised Premium Processing for EB-5 and, even more so, the private EB-5 purveyors flooding the Chinese market with questionable ventures — squanders this staggering opportunity to recover economically.  The com…

Day 3 in Shanghai, off to Saigon tomorrow. Another set of incredible meetings with incredible people cherry-picked by Sharon Shi.  China is happening and the notion of a straight-shooting EB-5 program is a breath of fresh air to a hungry market.  My expectations have been blown out of the water on all counts. Expect LatourLaw’s Shanghai office opening early next year.  I may not know a damn thing about Chinese law but my partner and her good friend Stella sure do…(-; Feeling quite exotic these days, so we are heading to what sounds like the perfect place to wrap up business on the Bund: Craft…

As busy as some EB-5 megaprojects are in China, and as much money as much as they are collecting, seems the "shovel" in the "shovel-ready" is a bit behind the momentum: our second full week in China has led to a number of conversations with Chinese brokers with clients who funded EB-5 projects many months ago…and are still on "hold".  The reason: most EB-5 projects being marketed in the Far East are EB-5 dependent for execution.  Translation: A bank promises the GP that they'll fund 33% if the project gets local government and EB-5 funding for the balance.The county/city (or both) agree to cover a third of the deal if the balance is covered by a bank and/or EB-5 funding SO…The GP shows up in China with "confirmed" investments from …

This Xiamen delicacy almost proved too much for HRM Sharon, who politely declined when the dish was unveiled at dinner last night by our gracious host.  I've never seen Sharon even WINCE with all the zany Chinese stuff we've been honored with, so I took great delight thinking for a moment I could best her.  But when I ate one, she was checkmated and ate the whole thing…(-:Local Sea Worm in Cold Jellyfish PureeThere is nothing…NOTHING…we will not do to spread the good news of Lake Point EcoVentures EB-5….…

CHENGDU-  A passing observation: as my friendship continues to develop with the amazing group of folks with whom Sharon has been working here in China, the comfort level settles in mutually.  One of the sidebars to our efforts to present Lake Point EcoVentures Phase I to prospective EB-5 investors seeking a secure route to U.S. Permanent Residency is the agents' increasing interest in understanding the nuances of OTHER EB-5 projects which have been aggressively marketed to them and their clients.It remains true that if you have nothing good to say about someone/something, best to say nothing at all; at the same time, when a specific legal question is asked, one is ethically bound to answer it truthfully.  In reviewing but a handful of the latest EB-5 offerings stuck in …

NANJING-  Day Seven of our EB-5 marketing trip to China and Vietnam has us dividing and conquering:  Sharon is closing deals in Guangzhou while I flew ahead to Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan Province and inventors of paper money, to train our collaborating team for Thursday's big Lake Point EB-5 seminar.  Seems they are still quite busy making money in China, paper and otherwise:  we've enrolled 9 of our 20 EB-5 investor slots for Lake Point EcoVentures during our first week here! There is one reason for this mind-bending success, and her name is Sharon Shi, plain and simple.  The past week has had us visiting the creme de la creme of Chinese agents, those princes revealed through Sharon's seven months of frog-kissing in 2010. Our princely welcome a…

Day Two wrapping up in Beijing and I am seriously impressed.  Sharon’s pre-existing agency relationships are making this a comparative walk in the park compared to the last time I ambled through this neck of the woods.  The best immigration agencies, the smartest questions, the sharpest people…Lake Point EcoVentures Phase I’s 20 EB-5 investor slots are the talk of the town. It’s nice to be wanted. (-:  Beijing is an attractive, cosmopolitan city with incredible restaurants, malls…serious consumer firepower.  My first impressions couldn’t be better. And, not to be disappointed, the Peking Duck DOES taste better in Peking.  The other offerings at that particular restaurant…well….…