As many of my attorney readers are aware, a recent SEC decision has the EB-5 bar all abuzz and stressed out.  The BMW involved is not the car company but, rather, a law firm seeking to establish a referral relationship relating to a security.  Here’s the lowdown followed by my opinion on how this affects EB-5 practitioners.  Under the arrangement they proposed to the SEC, the Brumberg, Mackey & Wall, P.L.C. (“BMW”) firm would not: (1) engage in any negotiations with investors, (2) provide potential investors any information about the energy company that could be used as the basis for funding-related negotiations, (3) be responsible for, or make any recommendation regarding, the terms, conditions or provisions of any agreement for an investment or (4) provide any assi…

Folks, we opened registration for the EB-5 Seminar in Dubai after Labor Day and registrations for the free November 17th event, which will take place at the Shangri-La Dubai, are pouring in.  We have only made folks aware of this through Immigration Insider and few online mentions here and there and already have filled about 30% of the 70 available seats.There are a lot of EB-5 events going on all over the world, but our presentation is unlike anything you've seen or heard.  Instead of being "sold" anything, I will cut through all the baloney — and that's putting it politely — being pumped out by the vast majority or U.S. EB-5 Regional Centers and developers looking for YOUR investor dollars.  Attendees will hear:why, as a former U.S. visa officer and E…

The pain in the eyes of the Venezuelans I see these days is more palpable and more real than the concern across their faces as early as last fall, when I began visiting clients in Caracas and discussing the EB-5 immigrant investor "just in case" Plan B option.  While there has been a steady and growing concern that Mr. Chavez' continued mismanagement of this resource-rich paradise would lead to ruin, the reality of being the world's 8th largest petroleum producer seemed to provide some sort of invisible credibility forcefield.  If I heard it once, I heard it a thousand times: "If it wasn't for the oil revenues, [fill in the catastrophe of your choice]"…Well, the shields are down, my friends, and it is heartbreaking to see the cold statistics.&…

As Chavez continues to eviscerate the Venezuelan economy through corruption and mismanagement, the expropriation of private lands has remained somewhat on the back burner in terms of topics of discussion between my clients and me.  While I have had more than one client whose farms have been stolen by the government, no one I have personally met has lost his or her livelihood as a result. Unlike the rapid-fire expropriation of all private property in Cuba undertaken by Mr. Chavez' puppet master Fidel shortly after lying his way into power through flat out denials of his communist agenda, Mr. Chavez' expropriations have been very much in his own personal style:  haphazard, inconsistent, and driven by little visible strategy.  Instead of the immediate redesignation of…

Myfavorite dumb EB-5 marketing quote of the week:“Weare a small regional center…our center can only accommodate up to 320 clients.”Soundslike a cozy little venture, eh? (-:  I’lltell you guys, in this colorful world of EB-5 Regional Centers, there is nevera dull moment. But sometimes the hyperbole associated with the marketing ofEB-5 RC projects goes totally overboard and kind of makes the whole sector lookridiculous.  In fact, I've had more than one savvy investor who really WASinterested in the EB-5 but concluded it was all shady business after wading throughthe muck of several bombastic RCs promising the world.Onemisconception further perpetuated by both Regional Centers and those who marketthem is that "bigger is better".  While one cannot quarrel …

Better late than never: I've been telling a number of our readers in the Middle East that the sign up for the Dubai EB-5 Investor Seminar would be up soon….and it finally is.  We'll have a Farsi version up ASAP.Sign up here for: Latour's Dubai Investor Visa Seminar Nov. 17 My international marketing partner, Namjoo Hashemi, will be joining me in presenting a comprehensive EB-5 seminar which will address a lot of the questions and concerns most of my, ahem, brethren, fail to mention when they are speaking of the wonders of EB-5 investor visas.  There are a LOT of really, REALLY bad EB-5 programs…and but a handful of good ones.  Attend and I'll tell you exactly why.The event – free to pre-qualified investors – is going to be a provocative 2+ hour barrag…

When I was a  young Vice Consul in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, it was hardly paradise.  Juarez was a big, booming desert town characterized by endless maquiladora factories, blistering heat, and a vast income gap between the very rich who lived behind guard entrances in plush mansions and the vast majority who didn't.  The neighborhood in which we lived, San Marcos, was home to several U.S. diplomats and another crowd; the nickname for the neighborhood was "San Narcos".Still, you didn't know if the smiling guy across the street with the new bulletproof Benz was a drug dealer, a corrupt politician, or just one of the successful maquila owners.  No shoot outs, nothing external – save the lavish mansions and the fact that no one seemed to have a work schedul…

Justwhen I think I’m starting to figure out this very bright man for whom I votedas President, another dumb move from the Obama White House.  Last week, he signed into law a so-called “borderenforcement” bill which I had assumed was part and parcel of the ongoingresponse to what Arizona started.  But asso often happens with legislation (and sausage-making), it’s the stuff that isn’tlisted on the box that they sneak past you.Turnsout that Public Law 111-230 doesn’t just address the border…it hammers Americancompanies which were already paying huge fees for theforeign workers they have to hire because they can’t find U.S. workers for thejob.  Now, if more than half of theemployers’ workers are on L or H-1B visa status and the company has more than50 employees…

Immigration is the topic du jour yet again today and I wanted to share some thoughts.  This morning's Miami Herald blasts several Republicans who are proposing the elimination of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which grants U.S. citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.  Meanwhile, on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal, is an equally volatile headline: "Illegal Immigrants Estimated to Account for 1 in 12 U.S. Births".Both articles make good points about each issue: the Herald points out that such a change would be radical departure from the American concept of inclusiveness.  The WSJ, in turn, tells us that undocumented immigrants make up slightly more than 4% of the U.S. adultpopulation. However, their babies represented twice that s…