emmigrate to some other country. From the mid 1990s – from
1995 onward – there have been more and more rich people in
China. They intend for their children to gain a much better
educational background, and some businessmen try to explore
the business markets, building international stepping-stones or
relocating to some other country. So when we’re talking about
investment programs, and why most of them come from China,
that’s the reason: they get rich; they try to get to a country with
a good educational system; they want to create security, good
benefits, and human rights.
EB5 Investors Magazine: How much EB-5 business do
you do? What percentage of your immigration clients are
EB-5?
Thomas: We are not doing as much as we were for several
years. We started doing EB-5 around 2008, because EB-5
involves a money investment, and during the last 10 years
people have been getting rich. They know the worth of the
program is to be able to send their children to the States to
receive a better educational background, and they don’t have to
pay the international school tuition fee. That’s the point: they
save a lot of money.
EB5 Investors Magazine: Do you have a lot of clients
come to you who are interested in EB-5?
Thomas: I cannot say that it is a lot – I would say moderate
numbers. The reason is because in the last two to three years a
lot of programs have launched into the market. Actually, this is a
very competitive market. People like to make this decision very
seriously. What we do is try to look over the main points of the
programs, and try to minimize the risks for people, because, you
know, we are acting as the immigration consulting firm. We have
to market to the people. We do not want to have trouble when
the program has something wrong, like the Chicago project, for
instance, which involved a lot of immigration agents, and a lot
of problems.
EB5 Investors Magazine: So we would imagine that you
are very careful about which projects you pick. How do
you like for a project to approach you and present their
project, and what do you look for?
Thomas: I personally focus on the size of the project. I do not
want it to be too big. The number of investors needs to be within
50-80 vacancies, so the time to gather all of the investment funds
is much shorter. And the project will be involved in the – you
know the Chinese people, right? They like to buy properties.
So if the project is related to a hotel property or a residential
property, they will prefer that.
EB5 Investors Magazine: So do you have someone look
at the project on your side to make sure the financing is
safe and secure?
Thomas: Yes. We base the decision on third-party opinions
and the background of the [project] organizers to make sure the
money will be back within about six to seven years.
Continued to page 84
Helping EB-5 Investors Make Smart Choices
Leading EB-5 Due Diligence Firm
•
Six years of researching EB-5 Projects
•
Legal & Financial Expertise
in one team
•
Completely Independent
•
President is former
immigration attorney
with Wharton MBA and SEC
Series 7 and 63 licenses
We select projects based upon —
•
•
•
Superior features and characteristics
Low risk of green card denial
High likelihood of timely return of principal
We provide investors with due diligence
evaluations of at least five top projects.
Investor makes final choice of project.
John Roth is a registered representative of Primary Capital, LLC a registered broker-dealer and FINRA
member.
212-729-1821
www.eb5duediligence.com
WWW.EB5INVESTORS.COM
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