Friday, May 18, 2018

China update: are investors abandoning EB-5 program?


In recent months, Chinese immigration agencies are calling upon their clients to file a petition with the  White House, it is reported over 10,000 investors and stakeholders are signing the online petition.  Obviously EB-5 market in China is extremely slow and pretty much dead. Families with older children are less willing to consider EB-5 program. A few families with minor children are still in favor of EB-5 program. However, retrogression is a key concern.

Many immigration agencies around China are replacing their core business from EB-5 promotions to real estate sales in Thailand and Cambodia. Even some of the largest leading immigration agencies are devoting their efforts in promoting real estate deals in Asia and Europe. For the US market, some Chinese clients are exploring EB-1C or NIW type of visas though many of them are not qualified. Due to long time retrogression, more investors from China have been demanding for refund. 

The lack of legislative actions in the US congress is a major road block for many potential EB-5 investors, we are not expecting anything to be done soon this year.  It is pretty soon that Vietnamese and Indian investors would be facing the same retrogression issues. The majority of Regional Centers will be forced out of business as large projects will never see sufficient EB-5 funding if the US Congress continue to be inaction with EB-5 program.