EB5 Investors Magazine Volume 1 Issue 1 | Page 24

Continued from page 23 the business; he ran a promotional advertising company with a door-to-door sales force selling certificates for customers going to sports games, golf courses, restaurants, fun parks, etc. As she says, “It was a good business for us, and we just kept building up teams of people and opening up new cities, and it turned out to be something very fruitful in our lives.” Moving a Life and Family Simply put, Anthony, Shelley and Steven liked living in the United States and wanted to stay. Anthony was interested in transferring his life to America and Shelley and Steven had already been in the country for numerous years, raising their families and expanding their businesses. While they were putting their time and money into a foreign country they hoped to make a lasting home, getting their new lives legally squared away presented difficulties. Moving a life to another country is challenging to coordinate. As Anthony says: “You do not know how long it is going to take. If you have kids at school and you want to start them at a new school; if you have a job and you want to know when to finish; if you are selling a house, buying a house, or renting premises; all of those things require firm dates, and that is one thing people cannot necessarily have in the EB-5 Program or any other visa process. You literally do not know if you are going to get your visa until you get your visa.” Unfortunately, for Shelley that meant being grounded in the United States; she was unable to travel back to Canada for 18 months and missed critical family events, such as her sister-inlaw’s wedding and the funeral of her childhood best friend’s father. Staying away from her extended family was not an easy task, but she and her husband were committed to obtaining their green cards. In Steven’s situation, he explains, “All we wanted was for our life to continue the way it was.” Like Shelley, he was not prepared to pick up his family and go back to Canada. “We went through three cycles of EB-2 visas, which are five year renewables, and by the time we got to the end of our third EB-2, we were firmly planted in the United States with our business. We had two Americanborn children, and business was doing well. We were not prepared to g