Yesterday, Bernstein Osberg-Braun and De Moraes' first EB-5 Immigrant Investment Forum went off without a hitch in our Miami headquarters.  In addition to some pretty stellar performances by Karen Caco (of counsel to the firm and one of the country's most experienced EB-5 attorneys), Roy Norton (of the Florida Overseas Investment Center ) and Kraig Schwigen (of the CMB Regional Centers), the event was notable for what did not occur:-no Powerpoint or other computer glitches;-no questions we couldn't answer;-we did not run out of food (in fact, the kitchen remains adorned with enough Panini stuff for a New Testament "multitude");-Roger, Melissa, and I all stayed pretty much on point and, most astonishingly…-I made it through lunch without g…

If you count my time as a visa officer in the State Department, I have been immersed in immigration law for 22 and a half years now.  I was thinking about the lawyers I’ve met over that time, and they range between the Jedi Masters of immigration law to public menaces who should be disbarred retroactively. Among the skilled immigration attorneys, I’ve noted a subtle distinction in the underlying qualities which in effect define them, to me, as “good attorneys”.  They boil down to two camps: 1- Those motivated by a sense of justice and 2- Those motivated by fear of malpractice/getting in trouble I should note immediately that despite the obvious innuendo in the distinction I am drawing, legal competence does not appear to be limited to either of these camps of  “skilled immigration a…

  I have tried and tried hard to find a hard copy of this article since I wanted to make sure that Loyola University’s Blueprint for Social Justice got credit for the reprint, but all I can find is this low resolution scan of the article.  Accordingly, the text of the original article is below. Since joining Bernstein Osberg-Braun & De Moraes just three weeks ago, life has again been full of serious intellectual challenge.  Roger and crew are pushing me harder than I’ve pushed myself in many years, and it is odd at 48 to both feel the resulting exhaustion and the exhilaration. Put simply, I am having a ball.  But one of the most enjoyable sidebars on the whole experience has got to be that of spending my days with a group of very intelligent, very passionate “immigration folks” who…

It was a very steamy day in Manila, Philippines, on July, 1995, and I was even more uncomfortable than I usually am in a suit and tie.  I was seated at the office of the director of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), having been invited via a common contact at the U.S. embassy in Manila.   (The POEA is tasked with insuring that the Philippine's most valuable "export" and its primary source of income — skilled Filipino professionals working overseas –  are treated fairly by their overseas employers.) Opposite me, with beady little eyes, sat the attorney for the organization, and he was irritated.  He saw my presence – and my credentials as a former U.S. diplomat and, at the time, owner of a health care re…

The momentum is palpable: Roger and I are spending the better part of our days dealing with three sets of inquiries:1- U.S. Developers and Project Managers considering an EB-5 structure to finance their projects with foreign capital;2- Attorneys and Investment Advisors with foreign clients who are intrigued about the new EB-5 Regional Center opportunities and, naturally;3- Foreign investors who are reading the blogs and want to know more.Next week our EB-5 team travels to Venezuela to begin our international series of presentations on the EB-5 opportunities available in the U.S. to qualified foreign investors.These days, a $500,000 investment to secure permanent residency in the U.S. for yourself and your loved ones seems to make a whole lot more sense than spending tha…

The Miami Herald reported this morning that the number of Cubans attempting to illegally enter the U.S. has dropped dramatically in the past year.  Based upon what the U.S. Coast Guard has seen, the reason is that "fewer undocumented Cubans are leaving the island for the United States, not only through the traditional route across the Florida Straits but also through the newer route across the Yucatán Channel to the Mexican border." The change in number is indeed signficant:  the Herald reported that in the 12-month period between Oct. 1, 2007 and Sept. 30, 2008 almost 2,200 Cubans were interdicted at sea and almost 3,000 landed on beaches. With less than a week left for the same period in 2008-2009, less than 1,000 Cubans have been stopped at sea and less th…

The following is an excerpt from the testimony of distinguished immigration attorney Stephen Yale-Loehr before the U.S. Senate's Committee on the Judiciary, July 22, 2009:"Congress created the fifth employment-based preference (EB-5) immigrant visa category in 1990 for immigrants seeking to enter to engage in a commercial enterprise that will benefit the U.S. economy and create at least 10 full-time jobs. The basic amount required to invest is $1 million, although that amount is reduced to $500,000 if the investment is made in a "targeted employment area," meaning a high unemployment or rural part of the United States. Of the approximately 10,000 numbers available for this preference each year, 3,000 are reserved for entrepreneurs who invest in targeted employment areas…

Yesterday I wrote about the astoundingly high percentage of immigration clients who walk through my door after having been ripped off, defrauded, or simply incompetently represented by an attorney, notario, or immigration consultant.  I told you that based upon what I've seen so far in 2009, 80% – that's four out of five – of my new clients have been victimized in such a fashion.  Today I'm going to discuss how this reality is being handled by our federal government, and why things need to be reexamined at the level of adjudications.First some background: in my years as visa officer, I had the opportunity to serve as Fraud Officer for the Stateside Criteria program in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.  The program, long since terminated, permitted aliens who were marryin…

Over the course of the past two decades of legal practice, I've observed a trend which, frankly, reflects poorly on my profession as an immigration attorney.  First, as a consular officer in Mexico, I was astounded almost daily at both the regularity of fundamental legal mistakes made by counsel for visa applicants and by their consistently adverserial responses when called on said mistakes.  (As the old saying goes, you can attract a lot more flies with honey than with vinegar, but attorney case inquiries directed at the consulate were, a majority of the time, pretty hostile.)It was not surprising, then, during the early years of private practice in Miami (1991-1993), to find that a significant portion of my clients were coming to me after they had …