EB5 Investors Magazine | Page 49

Your Bridge to Opportunity. • USCIS project exemplar approvals One Sansome Street, Suite 2080 San Francisco, CA 94104 o +1 415 986 8888 e info@3GFund.com • I-526 approvals • Hundreds of clients, from twelve different countries, have invested with Golden Gate Global www.3GFund.com • Golden Gate Global is the exclusive representative of the San Francisco Shipyard EB-5 Program Future The rapid growth in the amount of capital raised through the EB-5 program from Chinese and other investors certainly demonstrates that the EB-5 program represents a vibrant, healthy program with strong demand and substantial U.S. benefit in terms of job creation. On the other hand, the upcoming backlog represents a substantial burden for Chinese investors and will impact everyone else in the EB-5 industry. Based on Oppenheim’s prediction, the China backlog will only continue to increase over time unless Congress changes the law by increasing the number of EB-5 visa numbers available and/or eliminating the requirement that derivative family members be included in the visa quota. The State Department opposes changes by executive order on legal grounds but does not seem to oppose any change proposed by Congress. Interested parties should encourage policy makers to take action to address this serious and increasingly burdensome EB-5 program visa-backlog problem. golden gate global EB-5 INVESTMENT FUND achieved; new developments can be slowed or even cancelled without a steady influx of investors—this included much-needed hospitals, assisted living facilities and other essential projects in the national interest of the United States; and, the United States may lose talented individuals ready to invest and create jobs in the United States to other countries with faster processing times and less bureaucratic red tape. ★ David Hirson is a managing partner at David Hirson & Partners, LLP. There he leads a dedicated team of EB-5 legal professionals to provide a full scope of services for investors, projects and regional centers. Colucci, Dillon. “Retrogression for EB-5 Predicted at IIUSA Conference.” EB5 Insights. Greenberg Traurig, 27 Oct. 2014. 3 Without any relief from Congress, investor family members will continue to count toward visa quotas and limit the number of actual investors who can immigrate through the EB-5 program. Currently, only one out of every three EB-5 visas issued is issued to an actual investor, with the rest going to family members.3 As a result, only about one third of the potential amount of capital is being raised for investment in the United States; only about one third of the total potential job creation—100,000 jobs per year for U.S. workers—is being David Hirson Cletus Weber WWW.EB5INVESTORS.COM Cletus Weber is cofounder and senior attorney of Peng & Weber, located near Seattle. Cletus has two decades of legal experience and concentrates his practices on EB-5, and other employment-based immigration issues. Cletus is a frequent speaker on EB-5 matters and has authored and edited a number of publications on the topic. 47