EB-5 Investors in America: The Gift that Keeps on Giving

I’ve often commented in the AVS EB-5 blog that our business model as an EB-5 Regional Center is a very different on than that of most other Regional Centers.  Most RC’s are formed the purpose of finding U.S. developers who will pay them the most for finding EB-5 investor dollars. AVS, in contrast, was formed AFTER the Lake Point Project was long operational, and exclusively for the purpose of sourcing EB-5 investment funds for Lake Point…not for other projects.

This makes AVS Regional Center different in several ways: for starters, it means we are not marketing cross-competing EB-5 projects and avoiding a conflict of interest.  A conventional Regional Center may be selective in choosing its projects…but there is an inherent conflict when an investor knocks on the door...which do you recommened?  A more important distinction is the size and scope of the EB-5 raise: conventional Regional Centers look for the biggest projects with the highest number of investors, simply because this is how they make their money.  But perhaps the greatest difference is that AVS EB-5 sources its investors one at a time, independently, without paying illegal referral fees to unlicensed brokers.  In contrast, the rest of the EB-5 industry continues to rely exclusively unlawful kickbacks to foreign migration agents, despite the U.S. S.E.C.’s prosecution of both Regional Centers and U.S. attorneys for those violations.  With 9 out of 10 investors coming from China, that is the primary feeding ground for these law-breaking EB-5 Projects; one single Regional Center scheming with a powerful Chinese migration expert can bring in more investors in one single two week trip than AVS might take in a full year!

But therein lies the cool part of what I do:  we at AVS EB-5 know our investor families because they came to us one at a time.  (These days, actually, almost half of our new investors are referrals from our existing EB-5 investors…siblings, friends, neighbors, etc.)   I get birthday calls from our investors, and when a kid is graduating, I get an announcement.  Every one of our investors has my cell number and I have theirs.  When they come to Miami, I see them, and when I go to where they live in the U.S., I see them as well.  AVS EB-5, by virtue of our small size, is able to remain proactively involved in the lives of our EB-5 investors as they hit the milestones which mark their journey from initial investment to U.S. permanent residency.

Recently, road-tripping in the U.S. and visiting with some of our EB-5 investors already settled into their new lives, it struck me:  this whole concept that EB-5 investors create “10 new jobs” is really a gross understatement: AVS EB-5 investors, irrespective of nationality, have not relocated to the U.S. idly enjoy life in America.  The majority of them have created new companies, made new investments, and started new projects.  They are investing in America BEYOND their EB-5 investment, opening franchises, developing housing complexes, and launching new startups.  AVS EB-5 investors – and, I suspect, many other EB-5 investors, even those investing in TEA-scams in NYC – are to America “the gift that keeps on giving”.   By giving them a chance to invest in America for their families’ futures, they keep investing in America future, and the cycle of creating new American jobs continues.

I am SO proud of our AVS EB-5 families exemplifying all that is beautiful about America’s culture and tradition as an immigrant nation.  It is a privilege to be part of your families’ journeys.

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