By Marta Lillo
Fulfilling promises led Chinese migration agent Ivan He to tap into his ten years of experience working in the global immigration industry to form his Guangzhou Qiaoliang Immigration Services agency in 2014 with his wife, Joanna.
Having worked for large domestic immigration companies, He realized he wanted to help investors according to his own values and work style.
“There were many times when I was willing to give promises to my clients, but my boss may not be willing to realize those. When those promises could not be realized, I felt deeply guilty and uneasy. As a result, I came up with the idea of setting up my own business and building my team,” he said.
Since then, He and his wife’s goals have been straightforward: meeting pledges and building a respected and trustworthy company. Almost ten years later, they are a leading migration agency in the highly competitive Chinese market, focusing on providing technical expertise and catering to a client base primarily interested in United States (U.S.) visa programs.
SURVIVING THE BOOMING IMMIGRATION SERVICES COMPETITION IN CHINA
The Guangzhou Qiaoliang team has faced many challenges over the last decade, the most current being the ongoing immigration policy shifts in China and abroad.
“These policy changes, both good and bad, are testing the values and strength of immigrant companies the most,” he said.
The reshuffling of the Chinese immigration industry after the pandemic also raised other challenges, particularly fierce competition. There are more than 8,000 formally registered immigration companies in the country, said He. That is why specialization and technical accuracy have allowed his agency to stand out among the crowd, he said.
Compared with other Chinese immigration firms, He’s firm specializes in handling every stage of application for employment-based immigration to the United States, such as EB-1/EB-2/EB-3/EB-5, marriage immigration (CR1/IR1/F2A), relatives’ reunification immigration cases, and other related visas (EB-1A, EB-1C, NIW, EB3, CR, IR, and F).
“To my knowledge, many domestic immigration companies do not focus on U.S. immigration as much as we do, not to mention that we are covering almost all U.S. immigration categories and are having a large number of successful cases,” he said.
This strategy has paid off, as He is considering expanding to other Chinese cities and opening subsidiaries in the US.
UNRAVELING THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE EB-5 VISA PROGRAM
He says 80% of his Chinese client base first chooses the U.S. employment and investor visa programs, followed by Canada, the European Union, and Australia. The EB-5 visa program is particularly engaging, with more clients reaching out to his agency already informed of its benefits and challenges.
“Nearly all the clients we assist are opting for EB-5 immigration mainly to ensure a solid educational plan for their children’s future,” he said. “In reality, as their children grow, for the majority of Chinese families seeking immigration opportunities, there aren’t many better alternatives to the EB-5 investor visa.”
Nowadays, most of these clients understand that the Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) has made this visa program robust.
“Nowadays, applicants for the U.S. Immigrant Investor Program have much more knowledge about EB-5 than investors in earlier years,” he said. “When applying for EB-5, Chinese investors are concerned about the legitimacy of the source of funds of the investment funds to explain the program, the project safety and evaluation, the repayment of the investment principal, foreign exchange supervision policy, funds transfer path, EB-5 visa numbers, and other issues. And they are also very concerned about the risk control ability of the investment projects.”
He highlights two main challenges when helping Chinese investors: first, filling quotas available for Chinese investors, and second, finding the right expertise regarding rural projects.
“The reserved visa numbers for projects under RIA policy take only 32% of the EB-5 visa numbers per year, family members also occupy the visa numbers, and there is also a 7.1% of the per-country limit. Therefore, very limited visa numbers are available to Chinese investors. The number of people in China who are capable and interested in EB-5 far exceeds that of most countries in the world.”
Therefore, He cautions the U.S. government to rise to the challenge and increase quotas for Chinese investors if they want to maintain their interest focused on the program.
“If the US government does not launch a policy that can fundamentally solve the problem of EB-5 visa numbers restrictions, the benefits of the RIA policy will soon disappear for Chinese investors,” he said.
SELECTING THE RIGHT PROJECT FOR EB-5 CLIENTS FOR A HIGH SUCCESS RATE
So far, his agency offers projects from regional centers (RC) only, and the current selection criteria assesses two risks: immigration and financial. Guangzhou Qiaoliang agents separately gauge the projects and the regional center’s strengths and weaknesses, including the legitimacy of offering documents, business plan, size and capital composition, job creation numbers, exit strategy, repayment terms, investor protection, guarantees, and the RC’s success rate.
The projects must meet these RIA requirements and satisfy the U.S. national interest or humanitarian needs. If these conditions are met, the agency helps clients file their I-956F and the I-526E for expedited processing.
“In this way, the fastest processing time can be achieved for our clients so that they can minimize the impact if the visa numbers for projects under RIA policy are not enough in the future. Of course, the safety of the project is still our priority,” he said.
Ensuring this success rate and investment safety requires his agency and clients to enter a lengthy service cycle of seven to ten years of dedication and trust, from project selection to fund return.
“However, there’s an aspect often underestimated by immigration companies or lawyers — the high level of attention given to the client’s immigration case and the proactive assessment of the client’s background,” he suggests.
Accordingly, he cautions that every EB-5 investor should research the level of dedication an immigration agency provides when handling their application.
“While choosing the right investment project is important, the selection of a competent intermediary service provider is equally crucial. If the chosen agency lacks expertise, a strong capacity to learn, and a sense of responsibility, it becomes difficult to effectively navigate the increasingly strict requirements of USCIS and U.S. Consulates.”
EB5Investors.com Staff
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