FROM JOSE: Inbound U.S. Travelers With Visas: Proceed CAREFULLY

At the time I am writing this, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has "stayed" - which means the order is frozen and not permitted to be enforced -- President Trump's executive order barring the U.S. entry of nationals of several primarily Muslim nations.   Trump's Attorney Gener...

Jose E. Latour Feb 06, 2017

What the EB-5 Program Extension Means to New EB-5 Investors

SAIGON- As we gathered at the beautiful Park Hyatt Saigon for the first ILW/HLG EB-5 Immigration Summit this past Friday, the U.S. Senate was squabbling over the so-called "Continuing Resolution" required to keep the U.S. government funded after midnight of the same day.  At 10:45pm EST Friday night...

Jose E. Latour Dec 12, 2016

The Future of EB-5 Under President-Elect Trump

As most of the world realizes, the election of Donald Trump as President-Elect of the U.S. is without a doubt one of the most unexpected and far-reaching political developments America has seen in years.   As the first steps toward the handoff from Obama’s liberal White House to the unclear policy p...

Jose E. Latour Nov 19, 2016

USGAO: Big City EB-5 TEA Scammers Send 36% of Total EB-5 Investment Dollars To Rich Areas

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) just issued a report which FINALLY quantifies the extent of TEA abuse by the largest EB-5 developers who manipulate unemployment data in order to qualify projects in rich neighborhoods as “targeted employment areas”, simply because prospective EB-5 i...

Jose E. Latour Oct 24, 2016

The EB-5 TEA “Doping” Scandal: What Investors Need to Know

A letter written by two key Congress members regarding the urgent need to reform EB-5 laws which are being abused has triggered a massive online response, primarily from lobbyists and EB-5 Regional Centers who stand to lose their basic business model if and when the reforms take place. The issue rel...

Jose E. Latour Sep 12, 2016

To EB-5 NOW or to Wait…THAT is the Question…

With September 30th only weeks away, prospective EB-5 investors worldwide are being bombarded online with a barrage of information regarding the future of the U.S. immigrant investor visa’s Regional Center program.  In the case of Vietnam (where we will be next week), it’s gotten downright ugly, wit...

Jose E. Latour Aug 02, 2016

It’s Official: AVS EB-5 Remains Vietnam’s #1 Choice in EB-5 Investor Visas

Okay, it is my last day in Ho Chi Minh, I'm tired, and I'm leaving for Miami at dawn tomorrow so there is NOTHING humble about this bragging:  according to the final 2015 EB-5 approval tally, Vietnam came in at #2 in the world with 280 EB-5 approvals.  We did the math and the average EB-5 family siz...

Jose E. Latour Mar 22, 2016

About Yesterday’s Good News…

Yesterday I posted an entry regarding some GREAT news we just received regarding the very favorable economic impact report results for our first batch of I-829s.  After reflecting on the fact that the econometrics documented the creation of 50% more full-time-equivalent jobs than originally forecast...

Jose E. Latour Mar 18, 2016

Today’s NYT Article on EB-5 Sounds more NY Post than NYT

Sigh.  Even my venerable, beloved New York Times - the second best written English-language newspaper on earth (second only to the UK's consistently brilliant Financial Times) - is vulnerable to the temptation of hype for sake of engaging readership.  Consider the opening line of today's big piece o...

Jose E. Latour Mar 15, 2016

Methinks the TEA Manipulators Doth Protest Too Much…

Unfreakingbelievable:  after years of TEA manipulation by big EB-5 developers, the Senate Judiciary Committee finally schedules a meeting very properly titled "The Distortion of EB-5 Targeted Employment Areas: Time to End the Abuse" for THIS Wednesday...and BOOM, they just cancelled it! What an incr...

Jose E. Latour Feb 29, 2016