After over two decades of representing hundreds ofBrazilians investment-based  andprofessional immigrants in the United States, I finally made it to Brazil. Myhasty January visit — more than anything a glimpse into the still-Napoleonictendencies demonstrated by the occasional US visa officer — left me with aclear impression of Sao Paolo: a thriving metropolis as dynamic as itspopulation.Today's Wall Street Journal (page A10) discusses howBrazil's rapid economic recovery is starting to create concerns similar tothose the US has had with China: the overheating of what has turned into acolossal industrial machine. The Journal predicts that Brazil's central bank"is likely to start a series of interest rate increases" to coolthings down. Today I want to briefly d…

One of the great and terrible things about the Internet isthe anonymity that it provides. This morning, Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimerwrote an opinion piece regarding the potential repercussions of Arizona's new,aggressively anti-immigrant legislation. I rarely comment on online articlesand after seeing the postings to Andres' column, I remember why.Just as the Internet provides a cloak of anonymity to sexualpredators and would-be terrorists, it does the same for otherwise normal folkswho permit their hatred and prejudices to run amok in a way they would neverpermit a normal human discourse. As an example, consider a posting by anapparently educated individual who concludes that Oppenheimer "hates theUSA as most Latinos do." I clicked "reply" to giv…

Learning more and more this past year about the EB5immigrant investor visa has proven to be a double-edged sword. As animmigration attorney, my professional background sorely lacks the formaltraining in finance, securities, and investments which are not only essentialin determining the quality of any particular investment opportunity, but alsocritical in relation to observing US securities laws.  So no matter how much I learn, I really can'timpart that aspect of my knowledge to my clients in a comprehensive manner. The problem is this: the more I read, the more I learn; themore I conduct my own, admittedly imperfect, due diligence on the ever-growingnumber of approved regional centers, the more I come to my own, admittedlyimperfect, conclusions. While I would like to believe…

Came back from the LA college F-1 seminars with a rough cold, hence my silence.  In the course of catching up I found a USCIS memo I apparently missed earlier this month.  The memo covers a lot of stuff discussed at the USC and UCLA events in particular, including STEM, the F-1 to H-1B timing gap, etc.Take a look at it HERE and send me questions if you have them but please give me a few days to respond, will do so as soon as I'm up and at 'em.  Have a great weekend!  Jose…

The crowd was small, the questions were rapid-fire, and the first "Taking Charge of Your Green Card: New Millennium Options for F-1 Students" seminar went off with barely a hitch.  ("Barely" because the projector I was REQUIRED to rent – I travel with my own – was forgotten>)The attendees covered a broad spectrum of nationalities and ranged from freshmen to post-grads.  Although the feedback they gave me was very positive — they especially loved the portion of the presentation which covers self-marketing suggestions to neutralize "visaphobia" in prospective employers — I think the Powerpoint is a bit too long.  Going to trim it down for this afternoon's presentation at UC Irvine.  In any event, the one hour presentation was follow…

LA Seminar Press Release…

I just got an email from a student who will be attending the Irvine event Wednesday saying, in effect, "geez, Jose, I'm so sorry you don't have anyone going to the seminars!"Well, we're not at the stage of having to order a fleet of portapotties for the outside event at UC Irvine but we DO have folks signing up!  We just haven't figured out how to update the calendering software on www.latourlaw.com so the numbers all read "0" at this point.If you are going to any of the events, please do send an email to Brad@latourlaw.com so he can keep track of the numbers.  And please remember to tell all your F-1 friends that the seminar is FREE and will have a lot of useful information!  These things are a lot more fun if we make them interactive…

Brad has the sign-up page up.  Although the Irvine seminar is not limited seating given its location, I would sure appreciate your  signing up for it so I can get an idea of how many folks to expect.The link again:Latour Southern California F-1 Seminars…

While everyone knows that the Chinese have emigrated to Canada in vast numbers in the past decade and a half, not a lot of us on this side of the border are aware that, from investment visa numbers, Canada has been a powerful magnet for Indian immigration.  It might simply be that the numbers of Indian health care, science and IT professionals who have entered the U.S. have made us overlook the fact that when it comes to drawing in the investors who ultimately create the jobs, Canada's beat us to the punch again with India.That's changing.  I'm seeing a stronger interest from Indian nationals exploring the EB-5 option and the buzz on the Internet shows the EB-5 to be an increasingly hotter topic in major Indian city discussion boards.  As the EB-5 has gotten m…