Immigration Debate

The EB-5 Green Card was created in the 1990s by what was INS in order to create employment in the United States by attracting foreign investment ‘in exchange for’ lawful permanent resident status.

While typically an investment of at least $1 million is required, under certain limited circumstances, a reduced investment of $500,000 is acceptable. One of these circumstances is a qualifying investment in a government-approved Regional Center investment program.

The various EB-5 Regional Center Investment Programs are designed to enable foreign investors to qualify for permanent residence in the United States (i.e. a “green card”) by investing $500,000 in a Regional Center. In addition to the investment itself, each regional center has some form of ‘application’ or ‘participation’ fee, which can be up to $50,000. The USCIS also charges application fees for the green card application. In many cases, there will also be legal fees.

In all cases, the Regional Center and a private management company set up an investment entity as a limited partnership or limited liability companies. The investment entity either acquires an ownership interest in some type of asset (such as real estate) or the entity makes low interest loans to government or private borrowers.

Prior to investing, any prospective foreign investor should review the prospectus with detailed information about the investment. It is always advisable to have this information carefully reviewed by specialists in business law and accounting.

The various Regional Centers Investment Programs have widely different philosophies. Some focus on maximizing the return on the investment. Some focus on ensuring a return of the investor’s $500,000 investment. Some focus on ensuring an exit strategy as soon as possible. The current law authorizing the EB-5 Regional Center Investment Program is set to expire on September 30, 2008. Most authorities expect the U.S. government to reauthorize the program, but with the political climate it is unclear whether reauthorization will occur before or after the sunset date. Reauthorization bills have been introduced into Congress as parts of other pieces of legislation and are still pending.

There is consensus among the various Regional Center Investment Programs that any green card application submitted before the September sunset date will remain eligible to receive a green card.

It cannot be confirmed at this point, what might happen in September ‘08, or how USCIS will handle cases around that time. Guidance from USCIS should be forthcoming some time this summer. In light of this information, it would be sensible for interested individuals to do the following:

1. If you are seriously interested in an EB-5 Regional Center investment, then complete the investment and application as soon as possible.

2. Make sure that any investment includes an agreement to refund the investment and all or part of the program fees if a green card is not issued to the investor (this includes approval of both parts of the application process: the I-536 petition and the background check).

3. Have an alternative immigration strategy in place in case EB-5 Regional Center green card processing is delayed or halted.

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact me, using either the contact form on the FRONT PAGE, or by clicking on one of the email addresses at the bottom of any page.

Have you left your country because you were afraid for your life? Did you, or do you want to, come to the United States hoping for the promise of a better life, and the safety & protection that U.S. laws give to its citizens? You may be allowed to remain in the United States based on asylum. The concept of asylum is embedded in both U.S. law and international law; it is based on the idea that a country will not force a citizen of another country to return when that person can prove that he or she has suffered past persecution (see below) and/or has a well-founded fear of future persecution based on one of five grounds or a combination of grounds:

• Race
• Religion
• Nationality
• Membership in a particular social group
• Political opinion

It is important to note that, generally, the persecutor must be the government or someone acting on behalf of the government. Alternately, depending on the circumstances, it may be a situation where violence against an individual is encouraged or sanctioned by the government, or the government refuses to step in and put a stop to it.

Persecution is usually viewed as violence where serious physical harm results (extensive beatings, mutilations, etc.); prosecution of a crime to an unreasonable extent; or severe discrimination and/or economic persecution (where it becomes impossible to earn a living due to harassment). You could also prove that you have a well-founded fear of future persecution based on events that have occurred to other people, as long as you are able to prove those things and also prove that you are in a situation where, if the persecutors found out you possessed the characteristic (race, religion, nationality, etc.) you would also be subject to persecution. Therefore, you do not necessarily have to be persecuted in order to prove that you deserve asylum.

You must also be able to prove a well-founded fear of persecution. Do you, personally, have a reasonable fear that the persecution existed, will exist, or will continue? Furthermore, would another person in your situation also be in fear? Ways to prove this include: past incidents, incidents that have happened to others, reports from international human rights agencies about the conditions in your country (and about your issue), reports from the U.S. government about the conditions in your country, whether there are laws that support persecution, etc. You need to be able to show that you possess a belief or characteristic that the government wishes to punish, that they know you possess this belief or characteristic (or could find out), and that they have the will and ability to punish you for it.

Be aware, however, that an asylum claim is a difficult one. The United States Government makes it very hard for individuals to pursue these claims, although many have done so successfully. If possible, you should gather as much evidence as you can before pursuing this avenue. You must also understand that filing a “frivolous claim,” where it is determined that you fabricated evidence, may result in your permanently losing any immigration benefits.

Finally, you should consult with an experienced immigration attorney. There are many individuals that will take your money but are not licensed to give legal advice-these people should be avoided. Make sure the person that helps YOU is 1. licensed to give advice (an attorney, not a notario) and 2. has worked on asylum cases before. Also, there are multiple organizations which provide help and support -many for free– for immigrants seeking asylum in the United States.

The New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS) has 7 main categories under which prospective migrants can apply under for immigration to New Zealand.

They are as follows

Skilled Migrant Category
Investor Category
Entrepeneur Category
Work to Residence Policy
Employees of businesses relocating to New Zealand
Family/Family quota category
Humanitarian/Refugee category

For immigration to New Zealand purposes you must fit into one box, there is no negotiating, no variables or flexibility.

The first most important aspect of immigration to New Zealand is which category you will apply under. I have been in New Zealand for 10 years now and have seen numerous changes happen during that time. In 2000 I was briefly involved in assisting people immigrate because of my recruitment business.

After you have made the decision to immigrate, which is a big one, and before you do anything else you need to get a thorough understanding of what category you can apply under.

If you are paying an agent then they will decide this for you based on the info you provide them. If you are doing this on your own though, you need to make sure you get this step absolutely right from the onset for your immigration to Ne Zealand.

Most people apply under the skilled migrant category, which uses a points system. There are some downsides to this category,like

You need to be under 55 years of age
Registration Required in some fields of expertise
Job offer required
The principal applicant must meet English language requirements
It also requires an expression of interest which is scored ranked and pooled and only the highest ranking applicants are invited to apply.

This is probably the biggest step before Immigration to New Zealand can commence. Once you know which category you can apply under can you start moving through the rest of the process.

Immigration to New Zealand must be an enjoyable experience and not stress you out and cause you anxiety. I wish you all the best with your experience.

If you’ve ever stopped and wondered where your relatives came from, you’re not alone. It’s a human nature to be curious about the past. Besides, everyone knows that America is largely a country of immigrants. This can make any American who doesn’t already know curious about where his relatives might have first come from. If you’ve been curious about where your stock is descended from, then you’ll be glad to know that there’s an easy way to check. All you have to do is use an online public records search to find immigration records online.

Immigration records are the key to finding out when a given person entered the country and where they were coming from. This means that if you can find an immigration record for your relatives, you can be sure to learn what country they were moving away from. Plus, immigration records also list the date and place that you’re family first entered the country. This can be vital to further research, as it will be far easier to trace out the route of history if you can search from both ends at the same time.

Finding immigration records is easy if you use an online public records search. Online public records searches are websites that specialize in making all kinds of public records easy to find. The most efficient online public records searches use lots of different databases to allow users to find literally millions of public records. This means that finding immigration records is as easy as searching for the person in your family who immigrated. And if you’re not sure which relative first came to America, you can use also use the public records search to find that out too.

This way, your search for free immigration records can be both the start and the bulk of your genealogy research. Once you’ve learned about your heritage, you can continue to delve into the past.

For many outside the US, employment holds the key to success inside American borders. Although dissatisfied Americans may complain about the current economic slowdown, what appears to lifelong American citizens as a recession strikes many potential immigrants as rare economic opportunity. As a result, individuals from the world over compete for relatively few slots available for legal residency based on permanent employment in the US.

In order to qualify for this employment-based immigration, foreign nationals must already be eligible for one of the existing methods of lawful residency under current US Immigration Law. If that is the case, the employer must file a request with the US Department of Labor before the process can proceed further. If the Department of Labor approves this request, the employer is then able to file an immigrant visa petition. Under this arrangement, the employer is, in effect, acting as the sponsor of the foreign national, vouching for his employment and suitability for US residency

If things proceed smoothly, the foreign applicant will then receive an immigrant visa number (even if they are already in the US on a temporary visa). Once this number becomes available and is assigned to the applicant, the only remaining step is to enter the US (if he is outside) or apply to convert the immigrant visa into a permanent residency (if he’s already inside).

Typically, permanent residency based on employment requires that the applicant demonstrate extraordinary giftedness, achievement, or creativity. However, one program does exist to allow foreign medical professionals to enter the US in order to set up practices in areas of the US that are underserved by the existing medical infrastructure of America.