AILA Central Florida Annual Conference (10/18-10/20)
CMB Executive Director Garrett Connors speaks at the annual AILA Central Florida conference
Why EB-5
Why EB-5?
Discover the benefits of the EB-5 investor visa program
What is the EB-5 Visa Program?
In 1990, the United States Congress created the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. This visa category is targeted towards qualified foreign nationals seeking to obtain lawful permanent residency by investing in the U.S. economy and creating at least 10 full-time U.S. jobs. Currently, the program is administered by U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). The required investment is $1.05 million, but can be reduced to $800,000 if the target investment occurs in a targeted employment area (TEA), which is defined as a rural or high unemployment area.
The Regional Center Program
In 1992, Congress created an additional component of the standard EB-5 program, the Regional Center Pilot Program. A Regional Center is a private or public entity designated by USCIS that is authorized to coordinate with multiple immigrant investors and to pool their investments for greater economic impact. Regional Centers are authorized to operate within defined geographic regions that require approval by the USCIS through a rigorous application process. These Regional Center geographic scopes can be cities, counties, or entire states.
How Regional Center investments work
There are several differences between the standard EB-5 program and the Regional Center Program. The Regional Center Program allows the use of economic modeling to determine the direct, indirect and induced job impacts related to each investor’s capital contribution. This means that in the Regional Center Program, the EB-5 participant (investor) can count direct, indirect, and induced job creation as a result of their EB-5 investment. The Regional Center operator benefits investors by conducting all the upfront due diligence, underwriting, and managing of the EB-5 investment through all stages of the investment and immigration process.
The immigration petition and conditional residency
There are several steps in the EB-5 immigration process for an investor to earn a green card. Once the investor selects a regional center and project, the investor would then work with their immigration attorney to file their I-526E petition requesting conditional residency. The USCIS then reviews and determines whether the investor and qualifying family members qualify for the conditional EB-5 visa(s). This part of the process includes a detailed review of the sources of the investor’s funds, family history, and other representations of the investor and family members included in the petition. This petition, (through association to the regional center’s I-956F petition) also includes a thorough description of the EB-5 investment project and any economic models used to determine job creation. If approved (an I-526E petition approval), the investor will schedule a consular interview to then receive a conditional green card that is valid for two years. Then the investor and family would declare residency in the United States.
Removing conditions on residency
Near the end of the two-year period of conditional residency, the investor’s immigration attorney would file another petition with USCIS to remove their conditions (Form I-829). This petition demonstrates that the EB-5 participant’s capital was fully invested and at risk during the two-year period and that the requisite 10 qualifying jobs have been created. Upon approval of the I-829, the investor and family members become lawful permanent residents and can ultimately choose to become U.S. citizens.
Additional EB-5 program features
The U.S. EB-5 visa is a permanent visa and requires no future re-qualification, offering more advantages and fewer constraints than any other visa program in the world. The EB-5 visa has no requirements regarding age, business training, management skills, experience, or language skills.
What are the Benefits of the EB-5 Visa?
PATH TO CITIZENSHIP
After 5 years of residency visa holders can apply for U.S. Citizenship.
RESIDENCE FLEXIBILITY
Visa holders have the freedom to live anywhere in the U.S. and there is no requirement where you have to live based on the EB-5 project’s location.
EDUCATION
Green card holders may attend U.S. schools at the same cost as citizens. The U.S. has some of the highest rated schools and universities in the world.
EMPLOYMENT FLEXIBILITY
Visa holders can work anywhere without an employer sponsor or start their own business anywhere within the U.S. 50 states and its territories.
The EB-5 Process Timeline
STEP 01
Due Diligence
A potential investor interested in the EB-5 program should begin by conducting due diligence on available EB-5 projects, regional centers, and immigration attorneys. The EB-5 process takes years to complete; it is important that the investor is comfortable with their choice in all three areas.
STEP 02
Select an EB-5 Investment
Once the investor selects the regional center and EB-5 project, they will need to work with their immigration attorney to ensure the source of their investment funds will be acceptable to the USCIS. In CMB EB-5 Partnerships, our administrative placement agent will review the investor’s suitability and compliance with applicable securities laws. The investor will then transfer their funds.
STEP 03
I-526E Petition
Once subscribed to an EB-5 partnership, the investor will be able to work with their immigration attorney to file their first immigration petition with the USCIS: the I-526E petition for conditional permanent residency. The USCIS will adjudicate this petition to determine that the investor’s source of funds is acceptable, and (through association to the regional center’s I-956F petition) that the EB-5 investment is likely to meet all EB-5 requirements.
STEP 04
Consulate Interview
When the I-526E petition is approved, the EB-5 investor applies for conditional residency through a consulate interview (or an adjustment of status, if he or she is already in the U.S. on another visa).
STEP 05
Conditional Permanent Residency
Once the investor is approved for a visa and a visa is available, the investor and qualified family members are issued conditional green cards that are valid for two years. The EB-5 investor must enter the U.S. within 180 days if they are not already in the U.S. This entry into the U.S. then begins a 24 month period of conditional permanent residency.
STEP 06
I-829 Petition
Between months 22-24 of the EB-5 investor’s conditional permanent residency period, the investor’s immigration attorney files the I-829 petition to remove the conditions on the green card and achieve permanent residency. The USCIS will adjudicate this petition to determine that all requirements were met, and all requisite jobs were created.
STEP 07
Return of Capital
In CMB EB-5 partnerships, once all outstanding investments have been returned to the partnership, and immigration goals have been met, the balance of each investor’s capital account can be returned according to the Partnership Agreement.
Requirements
- The minimum investment requirement to qualify for an EB-5 Visa is currently $800,000 when the investment is located in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA).
- An EB-5 investment must create at least 10 new full-time jobs for American workers.
- The EB-5 investment must satisfy the USCIS ‘at risk’ requirement for the duration of the immigrant investor’s two year sustainment period.
- The EB-5 investor must prove that the funds used for the investment were obtained lawfully.
- A successful EB-5 investment results in permanent residence status in the United States for the EB-5 investor, their spouse, and unmarried children under 21 years of age.
Regional Center Program vs Direct EB-5
In 1992, Congress created an additional component of the EB-5 program, the Regional Center Pilot Program. A Regional Center is a private or public entity designated by USCIS that is authorized to coordinate with multiple immigrant investors and to pool their investments for greater economic impact. Regional Centers are authorized to operate within defined geographic regions and within specific industry sectors.
There are several essential differences between direct EB-5 and the Regional Center Program. The Regional Center Program allows for the use of economic modeling to calculate the indirect and induced job creation related to all spending for each project. This means that in the Regional Center Program, the EB-5 investor can rely upon direct, indirect, and induced jobs to meet the job creation requirement of the EB-5 program.
Regional Center Program
Regional Center EB-5 investments, like those offered by CMB, usually take the form of a limited partnership. Immigrant investors pool their investment funds to either lend or make an equity investment typically for a large-scale commercial project. Regional Center investments are able to utilize economic modeling to claim direct, indirect, and induced job creation to satisfy the EB-5 requirement of 10 new American jobs per investor.
Direct EB-5 Investments
Direct EB-5 investments can only utilize direct job creation to satisfy EB-5 requirements. This means that the target project must directly support at least 10 full-time employees per EB-5 investor for a minimum of two years. A direct EB-5 investor must submit documents (payroll information and proof of citizenship) for each employee with their immigration petition. Additionally, as of 2022, a direct EB-5 investment project can only be associated with one EB-5 petition.
Explore Our Current EB-5 Projects
22nd Annual AILA New York Chapter Immigration Law Symposium (12/4/23)
2024 EB-5 & Global Immigration Expo
ON THE ROAD with CMB! Noreen Hogan, President of CMB Regional Centers, shared insights on the EB-5 program at the 2024 EB-5 & Global Immigration Expo in Newport Beach today. Her panel focused on strategies to evaluate EB-5 investment projects.
Privacy Policy
Privacy Policy
Effective Date June 9, 2022
CMB Regional Centers and its affiliate companies (collectively, “Company”, “Our”, “Us” or “We”) value you as our client and recognize that the privacy of your personal information is important to you. We want you to be familiar with how we collect, use, maintain, protect, and disclose personal information and data.
This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) describes the privacy practices of the Company for data that we collect:
- Through websites operated by us from which you may be accessing this Policy, including www.cmbeb5visa.com and other websites owned or controlled by the Company and its affiliates (collectively, the “Websites”);
- Through our social media pages that we control from which you may be accessing this Policy (collectively, our “Social Media Pages”);
- Through HTML-formatted email messages that we send you that link to this Policy and through your communications with us;
- When you exchange information with us through a secure cloud-based document service such as DropBox or Sharefile; and
- When you visit our facilities, speak with one of our case managers via telephone, chat applications, email, text, or through any other offline interactions.
Collectively, we refer to the Websites and our Social Media Pages, as the “Online Services” and, together with any other offline channels described above, the “Services.” By using the Services, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Policy.
By visiting www.cmbeb5visa.com and any related websites you are accepting the practices described in this Policy.
Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your personal information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, you should not use our Services. By accessing or using our Services, you agree to this Policy. This Policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of our Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Policy periodically for updates.
Please note that his Policy does not apply to information collected by us through any other means, in accordance with applicable law, including on any other website operated by any third party; or any third party, including through any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from or through the Website.
Children Under the Age of 13
Our Services are not intended for children under 13 years of age. No one under age 13 may provide any personal information to the Online Services. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without their parent’s consent. If you are under 13 and your parent or custodian has not consented, do not use or provide any information on through our Online Services or through any of their features, register on the Online Services, use any of the interactive or public comment features of the Online Services, or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, email address, or any screen name or user name you may use. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 13 without verification of parental or custodial consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at:
CMB Regional Centers
5910 N Central Expy, Suite 1000
Dallas, TX 75206
309.797.1550
PERSONAL INFORMATION WE GATHER
Our goal in collecting visitor information online or in person is to provide the best experience possible, through delivering relevant information that meets user needs and/or to allow us to provide the Services. We have collected one or more of the following types of personal information within the last twelve (12) months:
- Name
- Address
- City, State, Zip
- Phone number
- Date of Birth
- Social Security Number/Tax Identification Number
- Information on your family, profession, educational background, and other personal information
- Information related to your immigration pursuit (i.e. green card copies, approval dates, USCIS receipt notices)
- Banking, payment, and investment information necessary for us to perform any services for you
- Information related to verification of accredited investor status
- Information about your computer such as Internet Protocol (IP) Address, browser type, or operating system
- User Agent
- Cookies
- Online Services usage information, including third party tracking codes, which are stored and used by non-CMB affiliated third party websites
- Logs files containing pages accessed, browser type, device type, error messages
- Analytics tools of third party companies that are used and stored by such third party companies
- Logs containing summaries of interactions with us, including phone calls
We may receive and store any information you enter through our Online Services or give us in any other way, including in person or telephonically. You can choose not to provide certain information, but, by choosing to not provide such information, you might not be able to take advantage of certain features on the Websites or potentially any of the Services or any other services we may otherwise provide.
INFORMATION WE SHARE WITH OTHERS
Any personal information you provide to us through our Online Services, such as when you register for emails, make an inquiry, send a message, or submit a request for information is maintained in private files on a secure web server of the Company. CMB shares this information only with affiliated companies in order to help us provide additional and better services to you. These affiliates are required to maintain the privacy of your information.
We used or disclosed one or more types of the personal information we collect for one or more of the following purposes, as applicable, within the last twelve (12) months:
- To our subsidiaries and affiliates.
- To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are either bound by contractual obligations to keep such personal information confidential or are subject to applicable law, and/or will use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- To fulfill or meet the reason you provided the information, including supporting your contractual relationship with us. For example, if you share your name and contact information to ask a question, we will use that personal information to respond to your inquiry.
- To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
- To provide, support, personalize, and develop our Services.
- To create, support, maintain, and secure your investment with us for your immigration pursuit.
- To process your requests, purchases, transactions, and payments and prevent transactional fraud. For example, if you subscribe to a limited partnership sponsored by the Company, we will share your address with a shipping company if we send out documentation related to your subscription.
- To provide you with support and to respond to your inquiries, including to investigate and address your concerns and monitor and improve our responses.
- To personalize your experience on using our Online Services.
- To help maintain the safety, security, and integrity of our Services, databases, and other technology assets, and business. This includes exchanging information with other non-affiliated companies and organizations for fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
- For testing, research, analysis, and product development, including to develop and improve our Services.
- To respond to law enforcement requests and as required by applicable law, court order, or governmental regulations.
- To allow you to participate in interactive features on our Online Services, if any.
- To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by us is among the assets transferred.
- For any other purpose with your consent.
We will not collect additional categories of personal information or use the personal information we collected for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.
As we continue to develop the Company, we might sell, buy, or create new businesses. In such transactions, customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets but remains subject to the promises made in this Policy. Also, in the event Company and its affiliates are acquired, customer information of the acquired entity will of course be one of the transferred assets.
We do not sell, rent, share, or otherwise disclose personally identifiable information from clients for commercial purposes in violation of the commitments set forth in this Policy.
REGISTERING FOR EMAIL UPDATES
Your email address will not be sold or shared with non-affiliated companies. By signing up for communication with us, we will use your email to communicate with you regarding our Services. Should you ever wish to remove your name from our email list, unless you have engaged us for our Services, simply advise the Company that you no longer would like to receive emails from us.
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES
When using links found on our site to other websites that are not affiliated with us, please be aware those sites have their own privacy policies, which may be different from our own. Also, the Company is not responsible for services or products that are offered on these websites.
DATA COLLECTION TECHNOLOGIES AND USE OF COOKIES
As you navigate through and interact with our Online Services, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns such as your location and IP address.
Our Websites use cookies to collect non-personally identifiable visitor information. This information allows us to customize your experience on our Online Services and is used internally to track site usage and provide business insight regarding how users utilize content on our Online Services. This data allows us to improve the content and design of our Online Services.
The Websites use or may use gifs, cookies, and reverse IP technology to collect non-personal information regarding use of our Websites including, but not limited to: pages read, content downloaded, product interest, demographics, interests, time spent, frequency of visits, the service provider, operating system, and IP address. Cookies are a small numeric identifier known as a Unique Visitor Cookie which differentiates one user from another. Users are identified only by a randomly assigned number, not by personally identifiable information.
If you do not wish to have a cookie on your system, you can modify your browser settings to disable cookies. However, please be advised the not using cookies may affect functionality of the Websites and the Websites may not work properly.
SECURITY
Keeping your personal information secure is important to us, which is why we use a secure server and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
When using secure pages of our Website, your computer will automatically begin to communicate with our server in secure mode. SSL technology encrypts your personal information on these secure pages, to protect it from being read by others during online transmittal. When applicable, we highly recommend that you create a secure password with at least 8 characters, mixed with upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. And that you change your password at least every 6 months.
Note use of any Social Media Pages that are not wholly owned and controlled by the Company (i.e. such as the Company’s TwitterTM feed or FacebookTM page) to provide personal information to Company, may not use SSL technology. You are strongly encouraged not to share any personal information via the Social Media Pages if you would like such information to be subject to the additional encryption security measures of SSL technology.
POLICY CHANGES
From time to time, the Company may update this Policy. Please be aware that whenever a change is made, the Policy as updated will be posted through one or more of our Online Services.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this Policy, please contact us at the address or via telephone below:
CMB Regional Centers
5910 N Central Expy, Suite 1000
Dallas, TX 75206
309.797.1550
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS
If you are a resident of the State of California, under the California Consumer Privacy Act you have the right to request that we disclose certain information about our collection and use of your personal information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will disclose to you:
- The categories of personal information we collected about you.
- The categories of sources for the personal information we collected about you.
- Our business or commercial purpose for collecting that personal information.
- The categories of third parties with whom we share that personal information.
- The specific pieces of personal information we collected about you (also called a data portability request).
- If we disclosed your personal information for a business purpose, a list disclosing disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the personal information categories that each category of recipient obtained.
You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception applies.
We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to:
- Complete the transaction for which we collected the personal information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, fulfill the terms of a written warranty or product recall conducted in accordance with federal law, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
- Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
- Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
- Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
- Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).
- Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement, if you previously provided informed consent.
- Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
- Comply with a legal obligation.
- Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.
To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by either:
- Emailing us at: [email protected]
- Calling us at: (800) 870-0702
Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your personal information. You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected personal information or an authorized representative, which may include:
- Copy and/or scan of applicable photo identification;
- Confirmation of address, phone number, and birthdate;
Additionally, the verifiable consumer request must describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it. We cannot respond to your request or provide you with personal information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the personal information relates to you. Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. We will only use personal information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.
We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within forty-five (45) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing. If you have an account with us, we will deliver our written response to that account. If you do not have an account with us, we will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option.
Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your personal information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.
We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request.
Other State Privacy Rights
If you are a Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, or Utah resident, your state’s laws may provide you with additional rights regarding our use of your personal information.
Colorado, Virginia and Utah each provide their state residents with rights to:
- Confirm whether we process their personal information.
- Access and delete certain personal information.
- Data portability.
- Opt-out of personal data processing for targeted advertising and sales.
Colorado and Virginia also provide their state residents with rights to:
- Correct inaccuracies in their personal information, taking into account the information’s nature processing purpose.
- Opt-out of profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
To exercise any of these rights please either email us at: [email protected] or call us at: (800) 870-0702. To appeal a decision regarding a consumer rights request, such submissions should be provided in writing via the email above, which shall be reviewed by the Company and determined what portion, if any, such rights will be sustained in our reasonable discretion.
Furthermore, Nevada provides its residents with a limited right to opt-out of certain personal information sales. However, please know we do not currently sell data triggering that statute’s opt-out requirements.
