Investors (EB-5 & E)

March 3, 2010

Job Creation – Opportunities for Foreign Investors

When the Senate advanced the job-creation bill last week, employers were given the signal that hiring tax incentives are on the horizon. Perhaps in a nod to the Administration’s No. 1 priority of creating jobs for unemployed Americans, the USCIS has just announced a forum on the EB-5 immigrant investor program. In the last year, and as recently as December 2009, the USCIS issued updated guidance on I-526 and I-829 filings so that USCIS adjudications could make decisions with clarity and consistency, allowing investors to make job creation through the EB-5 program a reality soon as possible. These are all indications that this is the time for foreign investors to again bring private enterprise to our great nation.

The upcoming USCIS EB-5 forum is only open to attorneys representing these so-called “million dollar investors.” Romben Law, APC attorneys will be in attendance and ready to present concerns facing our clients as well as potential issues for those investors considering the EB-5 program.

It is true that the EB-5 investors greencard process is often called “hypertechnical,” and has in the past been plagued by administrative delay and inconsistent treatment. But I believe that the view of recent USCIS’ actions, the agency is acknowledging just how critical the EB-5 investors program is to our nation’s economic recovery. For each EB-5 investment, 10 full-time jobs must be created, and that means 10 more working Americans. Call Romben Law, APC if you would like to discuss how you can start investing in America. —ecf

December 20, 2009

HIV Ban Lifted

by Romben Law, APC

Beginning January 4, 2010, applicants for visas or greencards will no longer be considered inadmissible for being HIV positive. Early last month, the Health and Human Services Department (HHS) removed HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) from the definition of a “communicable disease of public health significance.”

This marks a major success by immigration advocates like Romben Law, APC and HIV/AIDS health advocates. J Craig Fong (Retired from the practice of law) was cited in a recent Los Angeles Times article as one of the few immigration attorneys in the nation who work with HIV positive immigrants and who has been extremely successful in HIV waiver applications with the USCIS to overcome this ban.

Romben Law, APC applauds the Centers for Disease Control, the HHS, and USCIS in recognizing that the ban against nonimmigrant visa and permanent residency applications by HIV positive individuals was wrong. –ecf

July 1, 2009

Trying to Save the EB-5 Employment Creation Visa

by Romben Law, APC

Because we are a law firm devoted exclusively to the practice of immigration law, Romben Law, APC of Los Angeles gets calls frequently about the so-called “millionaire green card.” The more accurate name for this would be the EB-5 Employment Creation Immigrant Visa, or just “EB-5.” This sometimes controversial visa provides for conditional legal permanent resident status for persons who, after November 1990, invest $1 million (or in some cases $500,000) in a new business that employs ten US citizens (or certain other authorized workers) full-time and engage in that business through day-to-day management.

There has been much criticism of the EB-5 visa; however, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officials declared in February 2009 their firm commitment to the success of the EB-5 program, acknowledging the value of the program to the US economy. The USCIS Ombudsman’s office has made the following recommendations for the EB-5 program:

1. Quickly finalize the Special Legislative Regulations, to alleviate the so-called “stuck” EB-5 investors who have been in limbo since 1995. Improperly documented cases can drag on for years.