Questions and Answers > Other Eb-5 Questions

What are regional center regulations on finding EB-5 investors?

Can a regional center, or those working on its behalf, charge a commission (i.e. 10%) on top of the $500,000 investment made by the person seeking the EB-5 visa?

Answers

• Julia Roussinova

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 18, 2013

  Regional Centers regularly charge syndication fees. Please consult a competent securities lawyer regarding your issue.

• Taher Kameli

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 17, 2013

  Regional centers do charge an admin fee.

• Reza Rahbaran

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 13, 2013

  The regional center is free to charge administrative fees from investors to cover marketing and overhead. If the RC pays a referral or finders fee to migration agents, they must adhere to the SEC regulations governing private placements. Ordinarily if the fee is paid to an onshore person then that person must be a registered broker dealer.

• Brian Johnson

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 4, 2013

  A regional center may charge administration fees for investors.

• Ed Beshara

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 3, 2013

  The securities laws and regulations govern the parameters of how legally a Regional Center can market their EB-5 projects to potential foreign investors.

• Rachel Lew

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 31, 2013

  Yes, in addition to investor''s capital investment, regional centers usually charge investors administrative fees to meet expenses of the Regional Center in general administration, overhead, and marketing of the regional center. However, regional centers are regulated by Security Exchange Commission (SEC) in the solicitations and sales of securities (investors'' investments are considered U.S. securities), there are strict laws on paying commissions and finders fees to a person bringing clients. I believe these persons bringing in clients have to be registered as dealers and brokers in the U.S. to be paid a commission or finders fee. You will need to check with the SEC and each state''s Blue Sky law to determine whether a regional center can label a certain amount from the administration fee as commissions.

• Shahzad Q Qadri

  RC Creator

  Answered on May 31, 2013

  There are no specific regulations dealing with this issue, what you need to ensure is that you comply with all SEC regaulations as they pertain to private placements.

• Lei Jiang

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 31, 2013

  Commission is normally paid to agents/broker. 10% commission is very high though.

• BoBi Ahn

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 31, 2013

  There is no restriction as to the fee that the RC''s can charge, as long as the fee is outside/in addition to the minimum required investment (either $500,000 or $1Million). You can always negotiate the fee however, or go shopping for better rates and vet the track record of the RC.

• Philip H Teplen

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 30, 2013

  By contract, such is possible but not ethical.

• Fredrick W Voigtmann

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 30, 2013

  These regulations are within the jurisdiction of the SEC, not the USCIS. In other words, this is a question for a securities law expert, not an immigration law expert. The immigration laws and regulations do not specifically address your question.

• Christian Schmidt

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 30, 2013

  Regional Centers typically charge a syndication fee in addition to the required investment.

• Diana Levy

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 30, 2013

  Regional Centers generally charge investors an administrative fee (sometimes as high as $50,000) to cover professional fees relating to I-526 petition documentation common to all investors. The entire $500K must be invested in the enterprise and costs relating to securities attorneys, economists, market studies, immigration attorneys, business plan writers and fees, etc. are covered by the administrative fee.

• Lynne Feldman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 30, 2013

  They all charge some type of administrative fee.

• Kenneth Byrd

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 30, 2013

  To answer that question is to get into complicated areas of securities law. In other words, it must be done correctly with the correct licenses to be appropriate. Feel free to call us directly to discuss your case.