What are current market conditions for raising pre-EB-5 equity?

There is very little appetite for raising equity from brokers right now, in my opinion. In general, the market seems to be waiting for EB-5 legislation extending/reforming the EB-5 Regional Center Program.

To be direct, the market is flooded. China is down 80-90% based on reports of a long waiting line. However, new markets are emerging in Vietnam, India, Brazil, Turkey and many other countries. So, as long as Congress acts reasonably in in the enacting of a reform bill and extends the program beyond the December 8, 2017 sunset, there should be some prospects. This industry is for the bold. It is hard to raise funds because of the uncertainty in the program, especially regarding the minimum investment. However, many developers have raised hundreds of millions of dollars, and at least one is well over $1 billion.

There a few large Chinese agents who have raised significant EB-5 funds from EB-5 Regional Center investors that have branched out to raising equity for projects as well. You would have to identify those agents and, depending upon the terms and conditions of the project, they have been able to raise equity funds as well.

As you indicated, the current processing timeline for EB-5 cases by USCIS make it difficult for anyone who is just starting out in the EB-5 industry as it takes too long for adjudication of the I-924 for the regional center and I-526 for the investors to effectively utilize the funds within the short time frame.