AILA National Convention Kicks Off

The 2010 National AILA seminar began at the Gaylord Convention Center in Washington, D.C's National Harbor this morning with an inspired opening by immediate past AILA president Charles Kuck and a passionate call for comprehensive immigration reform (CIS), the subject of President Obama's speech at ...

Jose E. Latour Jul 01, 2010

Life on the Border: Another Tragic and Needless Death in Juarez, Mexico

When I arrived in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in 1987 as a firsttour Foreign Service Officer, the place at which I arrived was very differentthan the war zone I visited this past December. Ciudad Juarez was already a dusty, dirty and crowded desert town andoccasional crimes made the headlines: young...

Jose E. Latour Jun 09, 2010

Venezuela: Daring to Disrupt

When you think about it, there are very rational reasonsbehind the truism that the squeaky wheel invariably gets the oil.  In fact, but for the acoustic disruptiontriggered by said wheel, the bearings would silently grind down and bring the wholemovement to a standstill, without warning. The di...

Jose E. Latour May 18, 2010

On the Road Again…

Heading out of town for the weekend but I wanted to leave you with a link to Andres Oppenheimer's latest article in the Miami Herald.  It explains some basic fundamentals about why we have so many illegal aliens and just HOW our current disastrous immigration system has perpetuated this tr...

Jose E. Latour Apr 29, 2010

The Rise of the Brazillionaire

After over two decades of representing hundreds ofBrazilians investment-based  andprofessional immigrants in the United States, I finally made it to Brazil. Myhasty January visit -- more than anything a glimpse into the still-Napoleonictendencies demonstrated by the occasional US visa officer -...

Jose E. Latour Apr 27, 2010

Raising Hell in Arizona

One of the great and terrible things about the Internet isthe anonymity that it provides. This morning, Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimerwrote an opinion piece regarding the potential repercussions of Arizona's new,aggressively anti-immigrant legislation. I rarely comment on online arti...

Jose E. Latour Apr 26, 2010

The Graduating F-1 Dilemna: Taking Charge of Your U.S. Permanent Residency

My sons were down from school for Easter weekend and I had a nice chat about "the future" with Alex, my eldest, who will be graduating from the University of Florida this summer.  Alex is a bright, hardworking  young man, so I struggle to maintain that fine line between giving hi...

Jose E. Latour Apr 05, 2010

Impatience with Priority Date Delays

If there is a single issue (besides the daily barrage of EB-5 inquiries) about which folks have been emailing me the past few weeks , it is definitely the Priority Date situation.  F-1 students, in particular, have evolved from the standard concerns about the transition from OPT to H-1B status ...

Jose E. Latour Feb 22, 2010

Expounding on EB5 Visas in China and H-1B Prospects for Next Year

Reporter Stella Chan recently interviewed me for China Media Net, here are the links to the Chinese articles.  This one discusses conflicts of interest in attorneys and agents marketing Regional Centers in China and what investors need to know: http://www.dwnews.com/gb/MainNews/2010-02/2010-02-...

Jose E. Latour Feb 12, 2010

Commercial Real Estate Financing And Why EB5 Investors Should Care

The Miami Herald published an article today byElaine Walker regarding commercial real estate financing and what’s coming downthe (Turn)pike.  You can read the articlehere but Iwanted to point a couple of things out for those of you close to deciding on anEB5 Regional Center…not just in Florida ...

Jose E. Latour Feb 10, 2010