What experts should I consult for the EB-5 process? - EB5Investors.com

What experts should I consult for the EB-5 process?

What sort of experts do I need to hire to help me with the EB-5 process? I know I should have an attorney but do I need an accountant or someone to help with a business plan too? Can my lawyer find me other experts or do I have to find them on my own? I am living in China, can I find people in my own country to help me, or do they have to be in the U.S.? I want to apply for the EB-5 visa but I don”t know how to start.

Answers

Reza Rahbaran

Reza Rahbaran

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

Often, Chinese investors work with agents in China. An EB-5 attorney will be able to guide you through the process. Our law firm has vast experience with Chinese clients.

Lei Jiang

Lei Jiang

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

If you are in China, you can contact a migration agent. A more reasonable way is to contact an U.S. immigration attorney if your English is okay.

Shahzad Q Qadri

Shahzad Q Qadri

RC Creators
Answered on

I would begin with an attorney. You may eventually need to hire a business consultant who can advise you on the viability of the project. Your attorney may have relationships so ask him/her before you go out looking for one.

Rachel Lew

Rachel Lew

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

If you decide to invest through an USCIS approved regional center, you do not need to find experts to assist you other than qualified EB-5 immigration attorney to file the I-526 and I-829 petitions on your behalf. We usually require that our Chinese investor clients to retain PKF Consulting firm in China to do a source of funds report to be submitted to the USCIS.

However, should you decide to start your own business in the U.S. through the traditional stand alone EB-5 application (not affiliated with any regional center), you will need to include immigration attorney, corporation attorney, business plan writing attorney, and someone who can perform a feasibility study on competitors and five year financial projections. Some immigration attorneys have already established business relationships with these experts and can assist you on a package basis.

Fredrick W Voigtmann

Fredrick W Voigtmann

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

A good place to start is eb5investors.com. Besides immigration attorneys, you can find other professionals and service providers who can help with financial risk analysis, business plans, accounting issues, etc. Many times, the immigration attorney can refer to you such people, especially if you are at the very beginning of the process. That is what I do with my new clients, particularly if they are interested in basic direct EB-5 investments, but also in regional center cases as well. If you rely on the advice of such experts, you have a much better chance of achieving a positive outcome.

Vaughan de Kirby

Vaughan de Kirby

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

You will want to consult with an attorney for the application process, CPA for tax concerns and a licensed Financial Advisor for the investment aspect of your decision.

Jinhee Wilde

Jinhee Wilde

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

First thing you should do to apply for EB-5 process is to find a reliable investment vehicle. There are many EB-5 Regional Centers, so please do your due diligence in finding one with great approval track record for EB-5. EB5Investors.com could help you with narrowing your search. You should also consult an experienced EB-5 attorney who may be able to guide you immediately.

Ebiho Ahonkhai

Ebiho Ahonkhai

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

Our firm represents numerous Investors in the EB-5 Program. To that end, we serve as "immigration counsel" in EB-5 transactions. This professional representation ordinarily includes: immigration due diligence relating to the chosen investment project; advice regarding qualification as an EB-5 investor; responding to questions regarding the EB-5 process; obtaining, reviewing, analyzing and presenting information and documentation regarding the lawful source and path of funds to the investment project; obtaining, reviewing, analyzing and presenting information and documentation about the regional center project; preparation and filing of the I-526 petition; preparation and filing of conditional immigrant visa application or application for adjustment of status to conditional permanent resident; and preparation and filing of the I-829 condition removal petition. We advise investors to seek counsel from other professionals to assist in a comprehensive analysis of the EB-5 qualifying investment. Our EB-5 team works with other attorneys, such as corporate and tax attorneys, to structure or analyze the project in which the investor will contribute EB-5 qualifying funds. Additionally, we suggest that clients conduct "financial due diligence" and "business/common sense due diligence" when considering the project in which they seek to contribute capital. Financial and Business due diligence should be conducted by a qualified investment advisor, accountant, tax attorney, and/or securities attorney, or similar financial or business professional. Such professional, however, does not require an EB-5 background. Financial due diligence involves issues such as financial risk of the investment, exit strategy, rate of return, financial solvency of the project developer, sufficiency of collateral for any EB-5 loan and related financial issues.

Kripa Upadhyay

Kripa Upadhyay

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

Ideally, a good attorney with experience in working on such cases will already have a team of "experts" that he/she regularly works with who can be asked to help on your case as well. Typically, you a good attorney will have on their team a business plan writer; a tax attorney; a contact with a local bank to facilitate wire transfers/setting up of accounts and if needed, an economist as well. Your attorney, if you have one, should be able to help you get in touch with the rest of the team members.

Ying Lu

Ying Lu

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

If you are talking about a direct EB-5 project but not a regional center project, yes, you need to prepare your own business plan. If you plan to invest into a regional center project, they will prepare a business plan for you. Assuming that you will go through the direct EB-5 mode, you should contact an experienced EB-5 attorney first. She/he will help you streamline the entire process. The attorney may refer you to a business plan writer who is specialized in drafting EB-5 business plans or you can draft the business plan by your own if you are capable to do that to save yourself some money. According to my experience, most agents in China do not have sufficient experience in strutting a direct EB-5 business. Most times, they will affiliate with a U.S. Immigration attorney like us to help them with the document preparation while they will charge you an additional fee for the service. Though our firm is far away in the U.S., our attorneys can communicate with you in Mandarin Chinese and accommodate your working schedule. Plus, we can save you the service fee charged by the agents in China. I would encourage you contact us for a free consultation to get a basic idea about how to start. I look forward to talking to you.

A Olusanjo Omoniyi

A Olusanjo Omoniyi

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

If you work with an EB-5 Regional Center(RC) virtually expert-related services would be provided by the RC. However, if you and your lawyer are planning an EB-5 without an RC involvement, it is advisable that you may need more than one expert to help do a host of things such as preparation of a business plan that meets EB-5 requirements, planning of accounting services and documentation of sources of funds. Also, make sure you avoid just any generic business plan. Your lawyer, upon full disclosure and discussion of your investment plan to him, ought to be able to secure additional experts such as: 1) EB-5 business plan writer, 2) an accountant who will help in proving and documenting that your funds come from lawful sources, etc. One important thing to bear in mind is that all your experts should be knowledgeable about U.S. laws and business investments. Therefore, it is not where your experts reside that matter. In most cases, your attorney should be able to help on all the issues you raised. If you need further information on how to apply for the EB-5 visa, please feel to contact our office.

Echo Meisheng King

Echo Meisheng King

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

Based on the questions you asked, it appears that you are interested in a direct investment EB-5-type Visa, rather than a Regional Center EB-5. For the direct EB-5, you will need to have a business attorney, an economist (or a business plan writer), and an immigration attorney to complete the whole process. We have a team of EB-5 professionals working together to help the investors obtain green cards through EB-5 projects. We can provide guidance throughout the whole process to make sure that every step goes smoothly. We speak Chinese and have local offices in China to help with the collection of documentation. Please feel free to contact us if you need any assistance at all.

Michael A Harris, Esq

Michael A Harris, Esq

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

It really depends on what form of the EB-5 program you wish to utilize. The types of professionals you need can be brought in by an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney. The types of professionals are different depending on whether you wish to create your own business for your personal investment and management versus whether you wish to pool funds together with other investors along with yours. Alternatively, if you simply wish to invest in an existing EB-5 regional center which you are not affiliated with, then you may only require an immigration attorney and other personal advisors regarding your personal tax, estate and business investment questions.

Rohit Kapuria

Rohit Kapuria

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

Since you are an investor, the two most important experts would be an EB-5 immigration attorney and an EB-5 business advisor. Generally the attorney can recommend a business advisor if you wish. Certainly there are experts that may be in China, however, you have to gauge how familiar they are with the EB-5 process in the US.

Salvatore Picataggio

Salvatore Picataggio

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

We recommend retaining EB-5 Immigration counsel, like our law firm, to coordinate with trusted EB-5 professionals and non-immigration professionals (like tax attorneys and accountants) to assist you with the EB-5 process. If you are pursuing a direct investment, an EB-5 attorney would also coordinate with business planners to assist you.

Ed Beshara

Ed Beshara

Immigration Attorneys
Answered on

We recommend retaining EB-5 Immigration counsel, like our law firm, to coordinate with trusted EB-5 professionals and non-immigration professionals (like tax attorneys and accountants) to assist you with the EB-5 process. If you are pursuing a direct investment, an EB-5 attorney would also coordinate with business planners to assist you.

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