14 Examples of How EB5AN Leads the EB-5 Industry in Investor Resources, Best Practices, and Transparency

Everyone in the EB-5 industry is focused on selling projects—and we are, too. But we are also driven to make the industry as a whole better for investors.

Since 2013, EB5AN has continuously raised the bar among its industry peers. As we have grown into the firm we are today—with over 2,300 EB-5 investors from over 60 different countries—we have led by example, setting a higher standard of best practices that the older, bigger EB-5 companies simply were not pursuing. After a decade of driving innovation, we have established ourselves as a leader in the EB-5 industry.

We have introduced numerous new practices and standards. We have set new expectations for transparency. And our offerings have been examples of what high-quality, low-risk EB-5 regional center projects look like.

We are proud of the record we have established.

In this article, we will examine that record by reviewing some of the resources, practices, and transparency measures we have pioneered.

EB5AN Raises the Standard for Industry Best Practices and Engagement

We founded EB5AN because we saw a clear need in the EB-5 industry for better projects with lower risk. And so a big part of EB5AN’s approach to the market has been to lead the industry to adopt higher standards for project structures.

In addition to high-quality, low-risk project structures, EB5AN has been an industry leader in meaningful investor engagement. Many in the industry engage with investors, but few engage with investors and others in the industry as frequently and at the scale we do.

Finally, one of the most significant ways that we have raised the bar for others in the industry is by promoting more and more transparency. We will examine the many ways we have promoted transparency in more detail in a separate section below.

Low-Risk Project Structures

EB5AN has structured its projects using a few key guiding principles.

One of these principles is “show, don’t tell.” We believe that any project can say how it expects to succeed, but it is always better when that project can show current success.

A project that already has all of its financing is more likely to be completed than one that simply says it can get fully funded. A project that is already under construction is better than one that claims it will get started soon. A project that already has sales is more likely to succeed than one that is not yet selling. A project that has already created jobs is safer for EB-5 investors than one with no created jobs. Lastly, a project’s developer can say it will get the work done on time and repay its investors—but developer with a track record of completed projects and on-time payments is much safer.

Here is another principle we follow: just because EB-5 program rules allow a certain level of risk does not mean that the level of risk is appropriate for EB-5 investors. Many EB-5 investments carry much greater risk to EB-5 investors than necessary. At EB5AN, we structure our projects to minimize risk. Our EB-5 offerings feature industry-leading immigration and financial safety features like job creation guaranties, I-526E approval refund guaranties, and loan repayment guaranties.

Finally, we operate under the principle that independence is essential. EB5AN is not vertically integrated—this is by design. We remain independent from our projects’ developers so that, first and foremost, we can represent the interests of our investors. We believe our investors deserve nothing less.

By structuring our projects using these principles, we have set the bar high for what a low-risk EB-5 project looks like.

Frequent Live Webinars

Because we mean it when we say we want investors to make informed decisions, we host regular live webinars on a range of topics. We often feature other industry experts, including some of the nation’s top immigration attorneys.

Over the years, we have hosted nearly 200 webinars. In these webinars, we answer questions and provide practical insights, and they have proven to be excellent opportunities to engage with investors on subjects that matter to them.

We are aware of no one else in the industry offering investors such open access.

Direct Access to Company Principals

Speaking of open access, as far as we know, EB5AN is the only large-scale regional center operator that gives EB-5 investors direct access to the principals of the firm. Samuel Silverman and Michael Schoenfeld founded EB5AN and continue to manage it. They take a hands-on approach, visiting every project and traveling around the world to meet with EB-5 investors, that keeps them connected to the EB-5 investors they serve.

Answers to Investor Questions in Writing

We believe that answering questions in writing is key to maintaining professionalism and integrity. Many EB-5 investors have been misled by regional centers and their agents who said what investors wanted to hear, but what they said was simply not accurate.

EB-5 investors should expect written answers to their questions. In the event of a dispute or disagreement, a verbal statement or promise is hard to prove. Written statements, however, provide a record that can be directly referenced. If a regional center provides a written answer that contains false or misleading information, it may face serious consequences related to fraud and misrepresentation of fact. As a result, when providing written answers, a regional center is much more likely to give accurate information.

EB5AN is always willing to provide answers to EB-5 investor questions in writing. We have nothing to hide.

Large-Scale Project Site Visits

Many regional centers allow investors to visit project sites upon request, but we know of none that schedule project site visit events for investors, attorneys, and others in the industry to attend. Whenever we do these events, they are well attended. Some attendees have already invested in the project, while others are considering an investment.

At these events, we engage EB-5 investors directly. They are able to get answers to their questions—from members of our team, immigration attorneys, and members of the project development team. These events have also proven to be great opportunities for networking.

Those who attend appreciate that we take the time and effort to organize these events. Such opportunities for engagement are practically unheard of in the EB-5 industry.

EB5AN Consistently Finds New Ways to Increase Transparency

One of EB5AN’s top goals has been to promote more and more transparency in the EB-5 industry. EB-5 investors deserve to have all of the information they need in a clear, accessible format. Our hope is that as we set a higher standard for transparency, other EB-5 regional centers and industry professionals do the same.

Here are some of the ways we have promoted greater transparency.

Quarterly Reports

All of our EB-5 investors receive quarterly reports. These reports provide a baseline level of transparency for project progress and investment status. Investors have a right to know that their money is being used to fund construction and create jobs. They deserve to know how the project is doing. If the project is delayed for some reason, they should be informed. If sales are better than expected, they want to hear the good news.

Quarterly reports are an easy way to promote a culture of transparency. When investors are told they will receive a report each quarter, they develop an expectation, and this creates accountability.

Financial Statements

Institutional investors expect to receive financial statements from a project’s developer before they invest. EB-5 investors should expect this, too.

At EB5AN, we do not wait for our investors to request financial statements. We make these documents available to investors and encourage them to do all of the research they feel is necessary to have confidence in their investment choices.

We believe that financial transparency is essential for a truly low-risk project. If an investor is not given the chance to review the project company’s financial documents, they cannot verify how much developer equity is invested, whether the project is fully financed, how much money has been spent to date, or a slew of other crucial details. If the EB-5 investment is secured, the investors should also have access to all relevant documents.

As far as we are aware, EB5AN is the first regional center operator to encourage project financial transparency for EB-5 investors. We hope that as investors begin to expect access to these kinds of documents, the industry will become increasingly transparent.

Sample Investor Applications

In another industry first, EB5AN worked to provide real application document samples for EB-5 investors.

We published a free downloadable Form I-526E source of funds sample. This source of funds document is based on real investor details and provides a glimpse into one of the least transparent aspects of the EB-5 process.

Following the successful release of the source of funds sample, we released a free downloadable Form I-829 sample. This document shows what a real Form I-829 application looks like. This application is used at the end of the EB-5 process to remove the conditions from an EB-5 investor’s Green Card. Because a Form I-829 is submitted at the end of the process, it usually gets little attention by EB-5 investors. We brought transparency to this application to help ensure EB-5 investors can make their decisions with the entire EB-5 process in view.

Diverse Investor Interviews

While others in the industry may provide standard testimonials in which investors thank and recommend the regional center, EB5AN takes a different approach. Instead of oversimplified quotes, we have conducted more than a dozen full-length interviews with investors. These interviews are, for the most part, not even directly about EB5AN.

In these interviews, we talk to our investors about why they chose to pursue the EB-5 visa program in the first place. We ask how they found their attorneys, how they selected their projects and regional centers, and what the Form I-526E filing process was like for them. Our goal is to give them an opportunity to share their experiences in their own words, unscripted and unedited.

These interviews are much more than just testimonials. They provide insights from real investors into the EB-5 investment process. And critically, these investors provide different perspectives—they come from a variety of countries, diverse careers, and unique financial situations.

For example, Ram from India, a data architect stuck in the EB-2 queue, had this to say: “Having worked with immigration attorneys who had filed EB-2s for my wife and friends . . . I wanted to go with regional centers who had at least 10 years of experience and had done this process end to end. That narrowed it down to only a handful of regional centers. Then the project component of it, specifically for an Indian national: I had to look for a rural project just to avoid being stuck in the EB-5 queue. I would definitely recommend EB5AN. . . . [EB5AN] include[s] the detailed docs and agreements and . . . [were] really quick in responses to my questions. Also, the educator videos on the channel . . . helped me increase my knowledge on the whole EB-5 process.”

The excerpts above are just some highlights from Ram’s nearly 40-minute-long interview. In that interview, he discusses his specific background, his experience and advice about finding an attorney, and how he found and selected a regional center and project.

We believe this approach to testimonials adds another layer of transparency because you can hear the investors’ opinions in their own words. These interviews are not just us looking for praise. Instead, we offer a meaningful insider view of the EB-5 process.

Honest and Transparent Industry News and Analysis

EB5AN strives to provide up-to-date content on current EB-5 industry events. We discuss legislation, policies, litigation, visa bulletins, and more. Our approach to this kind of content is to provide as much factual information as we can in an easy-to-understand format.

We first provide the facts, but we also try to help investors understand the implications of these facts. For example, when the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 was passed, we dedicated significant resources to explaining the new law and how it would impact EB-5 investors.

Our policy is to put our investors first, giving them accurate information and honest analysis. We do this even when it is not in our financial interest. For example, when new USCIS data on the urban targeted employment area (TEA) category became available, we explained this data and its negative implications for urban TEA projects—even though we have urban TEA projects.

EB5AN Provides Free High-Quality Resources for EB-5 Investors and Project Developers

At EB5AN, we believe that informed EB-5 investors make better choices. As a result, we are focused on giving investors access to the information they need—whether they invest in our projects or not. We want to educate investors as they navigate the EB-5 process.

Over the years, we have developed many free resources for EB-5 investors, project developers, and others in the industry. We highlight some of these resources below.

Extensive Online Articles for Due Diligence

At EB5AN, we have spent years building a collection of online content meant to help EB-5 investors make informed decisions. We have carefully crafted numerous comprehensive articles that explain various aspects of EB-5 project due diligence.

We discuss how EB-5 projects are not one size fits all and that each investor needs to consider the specific facts of his or her own case to make a good decision. We explain how to identify potentially risky projects and provide key insights for how to avoid losing money in an EB-5 investment.

We have even developed an “EB-5 Investor Bill of Rights.” Modeled after the U.S. Bill of Rights, this list of “rights” explains what every EB-5 investor ought to expect and demand from regional centers.

Massive Library of Educational Videos

Over the years, we have amassed a library of nearly 500 educational videos on YouTube. We offer videos in multiple languages on a range of topics. These videos include basic information on the EB-5 program, EB-5 program and policy updates, EB5AN project overviews, investor interviews, webinar recordings, and much more.

EB-5 Project Immigration and Financial Risk Assessment Tool

One of our chief concerns for EB-5 investors is that they have all the information they need to properly assess the risk of any project they invest in. EB5AN is one of the first, if not the only, regional center operators to provide a comprehensive risk assessment tool for EB-5 investors.

This tool is in the form of a downloadable questionnaire. Once investors have answered a number of basic questions about a project, they will be able to quickly score the project and see whether it is low or high risk. The risk is broken down into two categories: immigration risk and financial risk.

Immigration risk describes how likely an investor is to receive a Green Card at the end of the EB-5 process, and financial risk describes how likely an investor is to be repaid on time. These two categories of risk are the two primary concerns for all EB-5 investors.

Our EB-5 project immigration and financial risk assessment tool has helped many EB-5 investors better understand risk and avoid risky projects.

Free Interactive TEA Map

As far as we know, EB5AN was the first in the EB-5 industry to develop a free, interactive, and automatic TEA map. This map allows users to quickly determine whether a particular address is located within a rural or high-unemployment TEA. The map is easy to use, fast, and accurate. Our TEA map has helped countless investors and project developers who are looking for qualifying TEA locations.

EB5AN Continues to Lead and Innovate

For the past decade, EB5AN has led by example, raising the standard for the industry and helping define what a high-quality, low-risk project looks like. We are proud of this record. And we will continue to find innovative ways to improve the EB-5 industry.

Our commitment remains to our investors. They deserve honest and accurate information, transparency, and high-quality investment options that do not put them at unnecessary risk.

If you would like to learn more about EB5AN, our process, or our projects, please schedule a free one-on-one consultation today. Even if you do not choose one of our projects, we would be happy to help you take the next step in your EB-5 journey.