The Current EB 5 immigration to Washington State – What a great improvement for Washington state

Currently, many wealthy Chinese and Canadians are immigrating to Washington under the federal government’s EB5 program. Whereas over 100 years ago, where the people in the cities surrounding the state rose up in riots against the Chinese, (read Chinese in Washington state by Art and Doug Chin © 2013 specifically pages 40 through 55 on the subject), now, we should be welcoming them with open arms.  Yes, I am biased.  My wife is Chinese, my son is half Chinese, my Chinese in laws with with us, and I have a dog from Tibet and his name is  . . . Panda.  However, think about the culture of oldest society in the world, that, for the most part, believes in family, education, and hard work to strive to make themselves better.  Further integration of their society to the United States, will not make the United States stronger.  The same can be said of many cultures that have come to the United States and flourished.

Well, that being said, let’s look at the American capitalist system today. From our great country in the United States at its inception, business have been started by immigrants from other countries who wanted to experience the American Dream.  Some of these businesses now include AT&T, Radioshack, eBay, Pfizer, Proctor and Gamble, and even Seattle’s own Nordstrom’s.  Today those companies started by immgrants years ago, now employ over 3.6 million people and have generated over $1.7 trillion in revenues.  (Partnership for a New American Economy, the “New American” Fortune 500 (New York:  Partnership for a New American Economy, 2011).  Now that being said, we now know why the U.S. government is asking for more wealthy immigrants to bring their creative ideas for commerce and trade to the United States.

The EB-5 program is basically a system to permanent residence in the United States for investor-entrepreneurs who start up, manage and grow their own business in the United States. The program is also used for multiple investors to use their investments in building real estate projects in the United States.  Today, this system is very popular from investors from china, and currently from, Canada.

China‘s socialist market economy^[17] is the world’s second largest economy by nominal GDP,^[1][18] and the world’s largest economy by purchasing power parity according to the IMF.^[19] It is the world’s fastest-growing major economy, with growth rates averaging 10% over the past 30 years.^[20] China is a global hub for manufacturing, and is the largest manufacturing economy in the world as well as the largest exporter of goods in the world.^[21] China is also the world’s fastest growing consumer market and second largest importer of goods.^{[22]  [i]}

With this economy growing in China at this rate, China is a great source for new wealth to enter the United States.

In Canada, the country ended abruptly their investment visa program, similar, and easier, than the EB 5 program in the U.S. With this abrupt end, Around 60,000 applicants to the Canadian program were taken off the list and refunded their application fees. Those sudden changes have many in the U.S. expecting those rich investors, mainly from China, to turn to the Seattle area to invest their money.  http://www.king5.com/story/local/2015/01/10/13391002/. And also, to apply to the U.S. via the EB 5 program.

What you just read, is a double whammy of commerce and growth to the economy of the Pacific Northwest.

So, what may happen in the future? Well Congress has had some plans in the works for a while now for the entire country, as the United States climbs out of its Great Recession of 2007.  Here are some of the proposed changes or additions to the current situation:

1. Resident Visa Program
3. The Resident Visa program (similar to the EB 5 visa but much less expensive) – this is only a proposal that is still in the Judiciary Committee.

1. At least $250,000 must be spent on a residence and the balance would be allowed for residential rental/investment properties.
2. Foreign buyers must pay for their purchases with cash, pay U.S. taxes and spend a minimum of 180 days in the U.S.
3. Foreign buyers granted visas would not be able to work in the U.S without obtaining a work visa via the normal and proper channels.
4. Foreign buyers would be able to bring their spouse and any children under the age of 18 with them.
5. The ‘Residence Visa’ would expire when the property/properties are sold.

• Senate Bill 744 S. 744’s EB-5 CHANGES

The Senate approved an amendment introduced by Vermont Democrat Patrick 1,eahy, a long-time sup­porter of the EB-5 immigrant investor program. The 31-page amendment made a number of significant changes to the EB-5 program. Among the most important relating to entrepreneurs are the following:

1. The EB-5 preference category will receive 10 percent of employment-based green card numbers (i.e., 14.000), plus leftovers from EB-4. Significantly, family members would no longer be included in the cap. That change alone would likely result in the program doubling or tripling in size.
2. S. 744 has a provision in Section 2308 entitled “Inclusion of communities adversely affected by a rec­ommendation of the defense base closure and realignment commission as targeted employment areas.” It adds base closing areas to the types of locations available for EB-5 Targeted Employment Areas (TEAS). Also, state or federally designated economic development incentive areas (often called enter­prise or empowerment zones) would be eligible for TEA designation thus allowing investments at the current $500,000 level rather than a million dollars.
3. After media reports of controversial “micro” TEA designations, the bill would tighten the qualification process. A proposed area would have to include a census tract or contiguous census tracts and one of the tracts would have to have at least 20 percent of residents living below the poverty line.
4. EB-5 principal applicants will be able to file a single 1-829 removal of conditions petition for an entire family rather than separate petitions for each.
5. S. 744 offers aging out protection for minor children if conditions on the green card are not removed and a new 1-526 needs to be filed. Also, the bill offers new protection for a spouse and children if the principal applicant dies. in job creation. Seasonal or intermittent construction jobs can be added to­gether to make full time equivalent jobs.

1. After 23 years without a change, the minimum investment amounts ($500,0003100,000) can be ad­justed upward by the Secretary of Commerce and if there is no action from the Commerce Department, upward adjustments will be based on the Consumer Price Index change over a five year period.
2. Concurrent flu in Is of I-526s and I-485s will be permitted.

1. HR 2131

HR 2131 (THE SKILLS ACT) CHANGES TO THE EB-5 PROGRAM

The House Judiciary Committee’s skilled worker bill makes more modest changes to the FB-5 program. but there are several important ones to note that affect entrepreneurs.

1. HR 2131 allows the threshold investment amounts to increase based on Consumer Price Index increas­es. The adjustments would start after the bill is enacted and would adjust annually.
2. The Department of Homeland Security may use discretion to extend the conditional green card period a year if an investor can’t meet the 1-829 requirements on time.
3. The Targeted Employment Area definition is tightened to only include an area with an unemployment rate of 150 percent and lifting entirely within a geographical unit the Secretary of Labor has determined has an unemployment rate of 150+ percent.Section 102 of the Skills Act creates a new immigrant visa for entrepreneurs in a new ER-8 category. It will have 10,000 visas plus any leftover from the ER-1, EB-2, and EB-3 categories.Qualified angel investors include individuals who are accredited investors, are U.S. citizens or law till permanent residents and have made at least two equity investments in each of the three years before the date of the petition.IIR 2131 also added an •B-8 category for E-2 Treaty Investors. This new green card category doesn’t cover employees of the treaty investor. One is eligible in this category if he or she is an [-2 nonimmigrant who has maintained status for at least 10 years, has benefited the U.S. economy, and created full-time em­ployment for not fewer than five U.S. workers (citizens or permanent residents as well as refugees, asylees and others authorized to work in the United States) for a minimum of 10 years.Conditional residency can he terminated [FM’S believes the investment was intended solely as a means of evading immigration law, the required capital to be invested was not invested or actively in the process of helm! invested, the alien was not sustaining the actions required for the green card throughout the alien’s resi­dence in the United States, or the alien was not otherwise conforming to the requirements.The removal of conditions petition must demonstrate that any requisite capital has been or was actively in the process of being invested, the alien sustained the actions required under the statute. the required employ­ment creation has taken place or the is in the process of being created and the alien is otherwise complying with the EB 5 rules. Finally, the conditional residency period will count toward the naturalization residency requirements. [ii]Gregory Scott Hoover’s primary area of legal practice is in the form of civil, personal injury and criminal litigation, immigration law and assisting those involved in real estate transactions. Mr. Hoover is licensed in both Oregon and Washington, and New York, U.S.A., and England and Wales. Mr. Hoover is also a skilled negotiator, mediator and arbitrator. As a skilled negotiator and litigator, Mr. Hoover can skillfully resolve your situation through effective negotiations or, if necessary, aggressively represent your matter in court. 815 S. Weller Street Suite 105, Seattle, WA 981041001 SW 5th Avenue Suite 1100, Portland, OR 97204
4. Hoover Law Group
5. Hoover Law Group
6.                 There are many changes to come in the EB 5 process. There are many changes to come as to this process in the U.S. There are many great things to happen, with the influx of Chinese and Canadian wealth and ingenuity that will add to our great country here in the United States of America. – Gregory Scott Hoover – Attorney at Law
7. A petition to remove conditions must be filed in the 90-day period prior to the third anniversary of condi­tional permanent residency. A late application may be accepted if there is good cause and a personal inter­view is required for the removal of conditions. Conditional status may he extended for a year and within 30 days of the end of that year, the alien must file a new conditions removal petition.
8. Alien entrepreneurs and their dependents will he granted conditional permanent residency like ER-5 inves­tors. DHS would provide notice to affected entrepreneurs at or about the beginning of the 90-day period before the conditional period ends.
9. The investment amounts are to be adjusted beginning within six months based on movement in the Con­sumer Price Index.
10. The ER-8 is designed for aliens intending to engage in a new commercial enterprise (including a limited partnership) in the US with respect to which the person has completed an investment agreement requiring an investment of at least $500,000 on the part of a venture capital fund whose investment advisor is a qualified ven­ture capital entity or two or more qualified angel investors (of which at least one such investor is providing $ 1 00,000). The investment must he viewed to benefit the U.S. economy and during the three-year period begin­ning on the date the visa is issued, create full-time jobs for at least five U.S. workers within the enterprise and raise not less than an additional $1,000,000 in capital investment or generate not less than $1.000.000 in reve­nue.
11. HR 2131—CHANGES AFFECTING