Just finished a chat with my still-jet-lagged partner Sharon Shi, who is somewhere West of Shanghai with a serious case of insomnia and EB-5-itis.  Sharon left Monday, arrived Tuesday, and will be meeting me in Beijing next week to begin what is turning into a rather grueling seminar schedule.  When you're gearing up for a 3 week, nonstop road show in China and Vietnam, melatonin doesn't cut it.  And, as you can imagine, getting ready for this kind of road trip is no minor event and I have been scrambling to get things in order before I leave this weekend.  In reality, between Skype, email, and cell phones, the biggest challenge is the time difference.  Hard to be perky for a conference call when it's 9 am for the immigration broker and 9 pm here.We …

On October 16th, the distinguished Chinese-American attorney Sharon Shi and I will begin a three week EB-5 marketing tour in China and Vietnam.  Sharon, my shiny new partner, spent most of 2010 closing EB-5 deals in China; she decided, despite her astonishing success last year going it alone, that taking a cranky old know-it-all this time around might improve sales, and the feedback from our agents in China so far seems to corroborate her theory.  (You’ll be hearing more about Sharon as soon as we get our various sites updated.)Our lead mission is to fill a $10M/20 investor tranche for Lake Point EcoVentures EB-5.1  Lake Point EcoVentures is a remarkable private-public venture where the GP is mining valuable aggregate rock (from which highway construction materials are made)…

Well,  Brian Su's first "real-estate-focused" EB-5 event yesterday ROCKED…as expected.  The room was packed with the usual suspects — and a lot of new folks — and the topical theme was definitely more advanced than Brian's prior events.Opening speaker Robert Divine – a top-tier EB-5 attorney — delivered a clear and consice explanation of how construction jobs interplay within job count dynamics in Regional Centers.   Ronnie Fieldstone — whose excellent article on securities compliance issues for EB-5 I published in Wednesday's Immigration Insider — did a masterful job in clarifying SEC-related issues.  (I was delighted to see his new partner — my OLD partner in the 90's — Randy Sidlosca in attendance!).Candidly, when you are p…

Guys, quick reminder: if you haven’t booked your seats for Orlando Friday, get busy.  Friday’s event is going to be the first the “Big Boys” (and “Big Girls”, of course!) EB-5 seminar ever, and it will hold a wealth of information for those of you who are beyond the “beginner phase” of EB-5 financing and logistics.While there is the usual impressive panel of speakers, the participation of Miami’s Ronnie Fieldstone of Arnstein & Lehr LLP is what will make this particular event invaluable for those of us who are NOT securities experts and who must wrestle with tangential securities issues as we service our EB-5 clients.  Ronnie is no run-of-the-mill securities guy: he’s been THE securities attorney for dozens of EB-5 Regional Centers and his experience in our sector is unparall…

I will soon be making a major announcement regarding the expansion of a Florida EB-5 Regional Center in which I am now a principal.   The RC, governed and administered by some of the most respected entrepreneurs and business leaders in the country,  will be going Florida-wide.  I have been given carte blanche to modify the RC, and will be doing so in keeping with the same spirit of fair-dealing with which I have governed my law firm for the past two decades.  Specifically, we are looking for projects which meet the following criteria:Project principals whose professional and financial backgrounds will withstand detailed due diligence scrutiny;Job-creation-driven projects in credible industry sectors located in TEAs or rural areas;Principals comfortable with our RC-…

For those of you involved in anything EB-5, you know Brian Su as the man behind the most productive networking summits in our industry.  On September 30, Brian turns his attention to what may be the potentially greatest match-up in EB-5 history:  Chinese EB-5 venture capital for U.S. commercial development.It is no secret that Chinese investors are bullish on real estate.  According to the Asia-Pacific Wealth Report 2008 by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, in 2007, a year that saw investors diversify into other assets against the backdrop of a booming stock market, high net-worth individuals in China allocated 21% of their assets to real estate, against a global average of 14%.  Fast forward to 2011 and the dual elements of a massive U.S. real estate inventory and nonexista…

Okay, in the past week days I've had two existing EB-5 RC clients come to me after hearing flat out lies from securities attorneys attempting to make a fast buck…and today I had a THIRD (prospective) client ask me the same question.It would appear the latest incarnation of the Man in the Gray Suit (i.e., shark) on the EB-5 scene is The Securities Lawyer, Part II.  Now some are pushing a “Reg D filing” fear…when, by DEFINITION, an offering made under the Reg D exemption to 17 CFR § 230.501 is an “EXEMPTION TO REGISTRATION”.  Don't believe me?  Here's what the SEC has to say: http://www.sec.gov/answers/regd.htmThe only thing an EB-5 funded project has to file is the horrific Form D…but only AFTER investments start coming in.  Form D, a pain i…

Just received the attorney’s copy of the USCIS letter of approval for Hollywood International Regional Center, LLC, and high-fives are flying!  Richard Heyman’s brainchild, HIRC, like most of the best EB-5 Regional Centers, stems from the dual sources of relentless entrepreneurship and deep affection for a particular geographic region.  In Richard’s case, that “geographic region” begins in the legendary streets of Hollywood, California, practically right around the corner from the new LatourLaw West Coast office (of which I’ll be telling you soon.) Covering the five counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura, HIRC will focus on the hospitality industry, particularly hotels and restaurants situated with the economically-challenged-yet-still-beloved sectors of t…

With USCIS’ announcement on August 2 that "within 30 days" some form of “premium processing” will be announced for EB-5 Regional Center applications, our sector is abuzz with speculation.  Those 30 days toll this week, and we are hopeful that Mr. Mayorkas will deliver as promised.  That news – plus USCIS’ affirmation that a EB-5 Regional Center may be indeed owned by non-U.S. persons — has generated a burst of inquiries and requests for EB-5 Regional Center formations.  Simultaneously eliminating any speculative market for the resale of existing, approved EB-5 Regional Centers AND acceding to the President’s initiative to stimulate foreign capital investment in the U.S. by creating a more “investor-friendly” climate, the rush of activity – most o…