TOP BUSINESS PL AN WRITERS
PHIL COHEN
STRATEGIC ELEMENT INC.
Phil Cohen is the president of
S trategic Element Inc., and
a vice president at Altytude
Advisers. Strategic Element
has been offering professional
services in the EB-5 industry
since 2010, including business plans, economic impact
reports and feasibility studies, and has participated in
offerings totaling over $3.5 billion in EB-5 capital. In 2018,
Cohen expanded his involvement in the EB-5 industry by
participating in the development and launch of Altytude
Advisors to address EB-5 redeployment. He regularly
speaks at and participates in EB-5 events and conferences
and was also the founder of The EB-5 Definitive Guide.
the same time facilitating investments into businesses that
would both contribute to the growth of the American
economy and the creation of jobs. A win for all involved.
WHAT NEW TYPES OF PROJECTS
AND TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY AFTER THE
NEW REGULATIONS TOOK EFFECT?
There was a marked slow-down in the industry when the
new rules took effect, however, we are now starting to see
that a new paradigm is taking hold and a new crop of projects
and regional centers have started to move ahead in the first
fiscal quarter of 2020 with fresh inquiries on the rise.
WHY DID YOU GET INVOLVED
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
The EB-5 program provided an opportunity to become a part
of an industry that offered the dual benefits of helping to
make the American dream a reality for many people, while at
WILLIAM DEAN
MASTERPLANS
William Dean is the vice
president of immigration
at Masterplans, an Inc. 500
business plan writing company
founded in 2002. He directs a
senior team of market research
and financial modeling experts who create visa-ready plans
through referrals from 300 law offices nationwide. Dean
specializes in reviewing client files and RFEs to help E, L-1,
National Interest Waiver and EB-5 applicants secure their
visas. He first encountered EB-5 in 2008, and since that
time has overseen more than 2,000 visa business plans.
Dean is a frequent speaker on investment immigration
panels. He previously worked at the law firm Stoel Rives,
and has a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.
WHY DID YOU GET INVOLVED
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY?
My involvement with EB-5 was almost accidental. I’d been
working as a paralegal on construction trials, but as a recent
English major, I wanted a career where I could actually write.
I came to Masterplans in 2005 to learn the business plan
ropes by creating simple proposals for SBA funding and
doing market research for investment proposals. I also
studied the E and L visa project requirements, and quickly
loved writing those plans. Eventually, I earned the opportunity
to develop the business plan used in the I-924 for a proposed
regional center in Florida, which USCIS approved in 2010. By
then, I was focused exclusively on immigration and business
development, actively networking with attorneys whose
clients needed business-related visas.
WHAT NEW TYPES OF PROJECTS
AND TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING
IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY AFTER THE
NEW REGULATIONS TOOK EFFECT?
I’ve encountered so few EB-5 projects since November that
it would be misleading to identify some pattern. Prospective
clients I’ve met are either flustered by USCIS controlling the
TEA designations, or still navigating the higher investment
minimums. The only trend that’s noteworthy here is the
groundswell of substitute visa filings, primarily the
nonimmigrant E-2 and the intracompany transferee L-1. For
us, there’s been a marked increase in E visas across all
business types, especially from Europe. We sometimes
work with Chinese nationals who’ve chosen the citizenship
by investment path to qualify, but most plans we prepare are
traditional E-2s. For now, this seems to be the future.
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