With this whole EB5 US Immigration foreign investment visa buzz, another target demographic has emerged for those of us who work with EB5 US investor visas: the US developers, development agencies, and assorted entrepreneurs who finally "get" the concept of infrastructure and project capitalization via foreign investment.  The events of the past few days and Wall Street's response to the Obama Administration's planned banking changes suggest that foreign direct investment capital will only get more attractive in the foreseeable future.I used the marketing term "target demographic" because today I am specifically referring to the EB5 community as a whole…and to those who market to the various players.  Take, for example, immigration lawyers who are …

In the blink of an eye, University of Miami School of Law professor and Director of the Health and Elder Clinic JoNel Newman and staff attorney Melissa Swain, with the help of the inimitable Linda Osberg-Braun and Melissa Venceslau, taught a roomful of law students and one TPS-clueless attorney (me) the ins and outs of filing Temporary Protected Status applications for Haitians in the U.S.Having put together a lot of events over the years, I can tell you: this one was a serious coup.  Last night Melissa V. tells me on FB that she's putting together the Powerpoint and this morning she and Linda take us through what I can only describe as a clear, incisive, and supremely executed two hour presentation.  Incredible!  The law students asked incisive, intelligent questions (…

Linda Osberg-Braun, Roger's law partner, knows a thing or two about TPS.  Actually, to be fair, there is not a lot about immigration relief and benefits about which Linda is NOT an expert.  So it is quite befitting that tomorrow,  Linda will be at the University of Miami teaching those of us who don't know much about Temporary Protected Status – both practicing attorneys as well as law students — the basics we need to help qualified Haitians in the U.S. apply for this just-granted benefit.  Through the benefits of lawful temporary status and employment authorization, Haitians in South Florida will begin to plant the seeds of restoration and self-sufficiency that will ultimately rebuild the battered island nation.Melissa Swain, UM Staff Attorney with the Child…

EB5 Public Relations Targets EB5 Regional Center Investors OverseasFormer US Diplomatic/Consular Officer and A/V-Rated Attorney Jose E. Latour launches EB5 Public Relations, an international marketing, publicity, and event management consultancy catering to US EB5 Regional Centers looking to reach prospective international investors overseas.(PRWEB) January 4, 2010 — EB5 Public Relations (EB5PR) has opened to offer USCIS – approved EB5 Regional Centers a broad spectrum of marketing and brand development opportunities including international seminars, industry resource/referrer outreach, and foreign-community-driven events designed to propel Regional Center clients into the global markets where their prospective investors are waiting. In today’s global society, there are few more coveted…

The Legal Intelligencer reported earlier this week on how the EB5 Regional Center visa is, in the words of distinguished business immigration attorney Ronald Klasko, "the hottest thing going on right now in immigration".  Yet again I find myself nodding in agreement with Ron (only this time it isn't at one of his entertaining and enlightening business immigration CLE seminars conducted with the brilliant Tammy Fox-Isicoff.)Hot indeed.  As of this moment, 79 EB5 Regional Centers have been approved by the USCIS, and they come in all shapes, sizes, and structures.  Having been introduced to this "new generation" of Regional Centers last year by Roger Bernstein, my re-immersion was somewhat cushioned in that Roger works only with the best amongst them.&#…

With a swift strike of the federal pen and in their typical rulemaking-without-notice-and-comment fashion of late, USCIS has singlehandedly and without warning eviscerated decades of pragmatic policies and court decisions relating to entrepreneurs who enter the United States in H-1B status.In a memo dated January 8, 2010, and just posted on AILA, Donald Neufeld, Associate Director for Service Center Opearations, published a series of changes to the Officer's Field Manuel (AFM), the USCIS adjudicator's reference manual which provides instructions on the proper evalution of visa petitions.  The 19 page memo is not as big as it seems in that the first half spells out the changes while the second half repeats them by citing the numbered rule changes.  The memo is obviously …

My friend Tim Ashby, a fellow member of the U.S. Cuba Legal Forum, is in the forefront of the effort to both normalize trade relations with Cuba while still helping those whose properties were illegally expropriated by the Castro regime find justice.  He was quoted a bunch in this article regarding a group of foreign investors which is seeking a U.S. government license tobuy claims against Cuba for American-owned properties seized in the1960s, and then swap them with Havana in a debt-for-equity exchange.  The link:Article On Cuban Claims Proposal This kind of stuff isn't necessarily sexy, but it IS brilliant.  Since the early 90's  I have said that the best way for Cuba to settle it expropriation claims is simple: repay those whose properties were illegally ta…

As we enter this season of extracaloric extravaganzas, it's interesting to note how ethnicities have crept into my holiday recipes over the years.  As much a product of my restless palate as the result of 25 years of constant immersion in new cuisines, the subtleties never escape me.  I wonder when it was that I first discovered that a few drops of sesame oil in the melted butter made the skin of the turkey a tad sweeter without imparting any Asian flavor.  When did I first curry the carrots accompanying a Christmas Day ham?  And when on EARTH did I ever figure out the desserts made possible with the once unheard-of Mascarpone cheese?Adrian Ho is assistant editor for the Wall Street Journal's Leisure and Arts page and on December 11th, he wrote an incisive com…

Folks, our intrepid Amy Link forwarded this "hot off the press" new USCIS memo which replaces the 2005 guidance we've been relying up for EB-5 issues these past few years.  I haven't read it and won't till next week but I will update you when I do.  Don't even THINK about ruining your weekend with this stuff, it's holiday time!Download Dec 11 EB-5 MemoP.S. Remember last year and the whole new I-9 and other regs which were released right around this time?  Couldn't this wait? What is up with the USG "Scrooging" us over yet again…?…