I am planning to invest in my own project but it might not create 10+ direct jobs in 2 years. There is a Regional center in the same area with a similar project. How could I work with the regional center and create a structure to leverage their ability to include indirect jobs?
You would need to work with a regional center to see if they can host your project depending on their industry designations. It is unlikely you can merge a direct EB-5 case with a regional center EB-5 case.
You should speak to the regional center first to see if they will sponsor your project. If so, you should consult an EB-5 attorney to guide you through the different structures.
You can ask that RC to either sponsor or adopt your project into its RC for a fee.
You need to talk to them. One benefit of using a regional center is that you can count indirect jobs.
It sounds like that you are trying to merge a standard individual EB-5 petition with a petition through EB-5 Pilot Program. I don''t think it is going to work because if you are creating a new commercial enterprise of your own thorough the standard individual EB-5 petition, you have to prove that it will create at least 10 direct jobs. Unlike a standard individual EB-5 petition, a regional center is allowed to use indirect job count in addition to direct job count in its project. But if the regional center in your area is dependent on all indirect job count in its economic analysis submitted to the USCIS, I doubt that you can leverage off their indirect job count, especially when that regional center has used tenant occupancy method in calculating indirect jobs. Because USCIS has changed its policy on tenant occupancy methodology in March of 2012, that regional center itself will encounter problems with USCIS at its investors'' removal of conditions stage if its economic report was approved by USCIS prior to March 2012. A second opinion is recommended for your situation.
That generally requires the work of a qualified demographer to make that case. Although, there is a new bill in Congress that will help if the project us in a TEA.
We would need to know more about your business and the Regional Center you are considering collaborating with. Your project would need to fit into their business plan so negotiations should begin with them. If your project is sufficiently different in scope or location, a new business plan and new I-924 would need to be filed which the Regional Center is unlikely to support unless there is enough up side for them.
There are several ways to structure regional center collaboration depending on what duties you need the Regional Center to perform. It''s probably best to consult a corporate attorney that is experienced with EB-5 to discuss the various structures and options available with collaborating with a third party regional center.
The first step should be to reach out to the regional center to see if they would be willing to sponsor your project. Prior to this, you might have a more in depth conversation with a firm that represents regional centers so that you have a sense of the business terms and what is standard. You will probably have to pay an up front fee and an added interest rate, along with other conditions, but it is possible if the regional center is willing.
You will need to speak with the Regional Center and see if you can negotiate to join the Regional Center. That way you will be able to benefit from indirect and direct jobs.
Ask the regional center principals if their business plan provides for hosting projects.
First, you must reach out to the regional center to see if they are interested. If they are, the terms and conditions are negotiable, but since the regional center must maintain detailed records and report annual data to the USCIS about all of its projects, they will need access to your project information, even well into the future. Also, you want to do your own due diligence on the regional center to make sure you know who you are dealing with and that the regional center has a good reputation and track record. Otherwise, it won''t matter how good a deal you make with them, it won''t be worth it.
There are several ways to collaborate, however the first thing that you will need to do is figure out whether they are even interested in collaborating. Once you have made that determination you may proceed to see if you can enter into a licensing agreement of sorts.
