Sunday, April 22, 2012

Standalone EB5 or EB5 Regional Center

EB5 program, in nutshell, is a promise of USCIS to grant green card to foreign investors on the condition that they invest in Us as per certain requirements. 
  • There are two types of EB5 programs
  • Standalone EB5 
  • Regional Centers
Standalone EB5 program is a new commercial enterprise that will create at least 10 full-time direct or indirect jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years (or under certain circumstances, within a reasonable time after the two-year period) of the immigrant investor’s admission to the United States as a Conditional Permanent Resident. A Regional Center is defined as any economic entity, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation and increased domestic capital investment.
Required minimum investments is in generally $1 million. If the jobs were created in Targeted Employment Area (High Unemployment or Rural Area), the minimum qualifying investment is $500,000.
Regional centers are entities that have convinced USCIS to believe each investor of theirs, supported by statistically correct predicting tool and detailed plan, will result in 10 direct or indirect jobs. 
Either through EB5 Standalone or Regional Center, foreign investor may be granted a conditioned green card for two years.  If 10 jobs can be proven to have been created in two years, the condition on the green card will be removed. The only difference between investing in Standalone EB5 program and in Regional Center is that investor affiliated with a Regional Center can be qualified with 10 indirect jobs. 
The Pro to choose Standalone EB5 is that business stays in control of investors and as long as the project is operated, the risk that the condition won’t be removed is minimum. The con, to some people, is that a foreigner has to manage a new business in an unfamiliar country. The fix to the con is to hire a consulting company to manage the business or to enroll into a franchise company. 
The Pro to choose EB5 center is that investors don’t have to manage the projects themselves. However, trust is a gigantic issue here, let alone, let’s face it, some projects are indeed scams. 
In author’s opinion, franchising business is the best way to take advantage of EB5 center because here trust is not an issue and management can be guided. 

Monday, April 9, 2012

What to look for in a H1B-eligible Job

"Am I going to get a job?" "Can any job get me a H1B?" "What kind of job should I look for?" "How much do I have to be paid?" "How many soon-to-be graduates can get H1B?"

These are the questions this firm get all the time from anxious soon-to-be-graduates. Never a simple fixed simple answer was given to any of these questions because there is none.  The last question, in particular, "How many graduating aliens  can actually get a H1B", is invalid question because whether you can get a H1B depends on whether your circumstances meet all the legal requirements of H1B. 

So, although all the answers can be: it depends,  there is one equation to solve all these questions, which is, find a job that qualifies for H1B. 

What is a job qualifying for H1B?

Under Immigration & Nationality Act, a H1B job needs to be so complicated that its minimun requirement is a bachelor degree or its equivalence. Of course, you have to have a major that meets its requirement. 

With that being said, a waitress, a real estate agent, a car salesman etc may have less chance to pass the examination. 

Another thing you should look for in your job is your pay. As many of you have learned, your job needs to pay higher than prevailing wage, which is published by Department of Labor. Pay attention though, it refers to prevailing wage, not salary. Wage is hourly pay, salary is annual fixed pay.  So when you negotiate pay with your prospect employer, you'd be better off to negotiate a wage, hourly pay. Trust me, it is good for your chance for H1B.