Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) in association with FM Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, an affiliate of the Law Firm Fox Mandal & Associates organized a Seminar on "Securing U.S. Green Card" on Wednesday, June 29, 2011.

The Title seemed simplistic but the presentation made on an interesting topic that drew instant interest of the participants kept them spellbound till the surprise package that came with the `Green Card' proposition.  It is an employment based Immigration Visa Category called EB- 5 that envisage to encourage immigrants to invest a minimum threshold amount to start a business in the defined categories with the guarantee to creating a minimum of ten jobs.

Mr. H V Harish, Vice President, BCIC in his welcome address briefly described the scheme called the U.S. Green Card, the EB-5 Visa for Immigration Investors and said “I wonder why we in our country cannot have our own green card programme to attract talent from outside". He said the EB-5 programme provides the investors with the freedom and flexibility to live and work in the United States. The Visa programme provides an excellent opportunity to obtain Green Card and the EB-Investment visa route to a green card allows eligible immigrants the opportunity to become lawful permanent residents.  The investment could only be received by an economic unit defined as a Regional Centre.

During his detailed presentation, Mr. Gregory Wing, Co-Founder, Green Card Fund LLC, introduced his organization as one of the approved Regional Centres by the U.S. Government (Immigration Service) that offered EB-5 qualified investment opportunities to potential foreign investors. The investments are generally equity infusions or loans into a business and the typical EB-5 investor period until repayment is five years or less. After making an investment, approved EB-5 investors will receive a temporary (conditional) U.S. Green Card. The EB-5 investor will be given permanent U.S. Green Card residency status only after the investment demonstrates that has created 10 permanent jobs. This job test typically occurs between the 24th and 30th month following the EB-5 investment into a business.

Mr. Satish Kholay, Managing Director, Green Card Fund briefed the participants about Green Card Fund, LLC which  received  USCIS Regional Center approval in February last year, is part of  Bedford International, a company founded in 1991, has identified several areas with high potential to meet the EB-5 conditions to get permanent residency as well reap a good return on investments. This included Public Charter Schools, emerging as a viable alternative to conventional public schools, whose popularity is waning among people. He said more than 5,000 Public Charter schools were operating in USA now. But there was an immediate demand for over 4,000 schools. Besides, education, health care and real estate are the other areas with huge potential for the aspiring immigrant investors.

Mr. Greg, Mr. Satish and Mr. Ashok Joshi responded to several queries that were raised by the participants immediately after the presentation.