September 22, 2011 - Ahmedabad

Facing unemployment of over 9 per cent, the US is trying to woo high networth individuals (HNIs) from India through its employment-based immigrant visa EB-5.

"Due to lack of awareness, the participation in EB-5 investor programme from HNIs in India is low. In first six months this year, only 40 Indian investors have availed the programme as compared to 62 in 2010," Green Card Fund (GCF) Managing Partner Greg Wing said here today.

"Around 10,000 EB-5 visas are available every year, but so far not more than 4,200 have been availed in any given year by investors in the US from across the globe," he said.

GCF is a federally-approved United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regional centre for EB-5 programme. It has joined hands with Fox Mandal (FMAS), an Indian consultancy and advisory firm, to create awareness about the investor programme for job creation in US.

As part of its promotional drive in India, GCF, jointly with FMAS, will be organising seminars to educate HNIs in cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad and Chennai.

The EB-5 programme enables a foreign national secure green card (permanent residence) for himself as well as for his family (children up to 21 yrs) by making an investment of USD 5,00,000 into American commercial business that creates at least 10 jobs for US citizens, Ashok Kumar Joshi of FMAS said.

FMAS is the facilitator of this programme in India.

"The investment of half a million dollars in American commercial business shall be refundable to the investor over next three to four years' period with some minimal interest," said Wing, referring to advantages of the programme.

"GCF offers projects in sectors like education, health care, clean energy and healthcare facilities," Wing said.

China topped with 866 investors under the programme in 2010, followed by South Korea (295), Great Britain (135) and India (62). The programme helped US attract investment of USD 1,104,500,000 in 2010.

Link to Original Article:  http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-09-22/news/30189346_1_eb-5-programme-indian-investors

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.