1 vote
Rank152
Idea#148
In 8 CFR 204.6(i), change allowable locations for companies receiving $500,000 or $1,000,000 through the EB-5 program.
Currently $500,000 is only applicable to new enterprises in Targeted Employment Areas.
Make $500,000 and $1,000,000 investments available in non-TEAs, since TEAs are so embedded and interwoven with the rest of communities. (Unemployment is high and uneven between contiguous census tracts.)
Tags: growth capital
I have learned a bit about these Regional Centers (I'm assuming you are talking about the $500K Investment Visa's). The only problem with them is (Again), the people who know about this are not Investment Professionals (Not even Bankers); as those familiar with this available Capital are typically "Lawyers. Though they think they are the best business people (As do Dr’s), they are NOT Investment Bankers; and my best friend who is an Immigration Lawyer told me that too many (If not a majority) of those deals have not worked for the investors as the use of proceeds is too limiting. Then, if they get funneled through an Investment Bank, chances are that they will go to anything but "Small Businesses;" because there are few small firms & big firms don't do small deals.
I know that there are successful projects (From the investor perspective) that were funded into large Muni-Bond Financing's. Since one of the big criteria is that the money is approved for a project within a specified enterprise location, and the business diverts from their initial offering (Or loc's), the whole Visa thing is cancelled... What makes those deals attractive is the Investors are motivated by something other than Profits…
I like that program, but (From a Foreign investor or Immigration Lawyer’s perspective) if they can just buy 4% bonds, then get their money back, and live in the U.S., “They are happy!” Those large Bond offerings almost always deploy the money exactly as they set out to; but what I think we're trying to get is "Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs” (Or some high Growth Small Businesses). I think that you have a great point, and in addition to extending them outside the Enterprise zones they are targeting, they were to allow more discretion to what changes the Board of Directors may want to make that would deviate the initial use of proceeds, that would be even better!
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