Deepak’s Story: Avoiding a High-Risk EB-5 Project and Choosing a Reliable Regional Center

I’m Deepak, an entrepreneur and EB-5 investor from India. I’ve spent the last 15 years exploring various business opportunities across the globe. As a father, one of my key priorities has been the future of my children, especially their education. This concern led me to consider the possibility of relocating to the United States—mostly because of the educational opportunities available here.

As a businessperson, I’m aware that making a considerable investment like the one required by the EB-5 program requires careful planning. To help others facing similar decisions, I’d like to share what I learned during the process of making an EB-5 investment.

One of the most important decisions I made was to invest in a safe rural EB-5 project—and, in doing so, avoid a rural project in a high-risk industry. It was also crucial to work with a committed and responsive regional center.

I believe my experiences can help you plan for a successful EB-5 investment and avoid common risks. This advice can get you one step closer to U.S. Green Cards for yourself and your family.

Why I’m Pursuing the EB-5 Program

Initially, I hadn’t considered moving to the U.S. at all. But as my kids grew older, I realized the importance of planning for where they would pursue higher education. It became clear that the U.S. has some of the best universities globally and that my children might eventually study there, whether or not we lived in America. This realization prompted me to look for ways to facilitate their educational journey in the U.S.

While researching online, I discovered the EB-5 visa program, which seemed like a viable solution. The program’s initial appeal derived primarily from its promise of a relatively quicker path to a Green Card compared to other immigration options.

Before discovering EB-5, my understanding of U.S. immigration was mostly centered around the H-1B visa, which many Indians apply for. I knew that, in many cases, it could take up to 15 years to transition from an H-1B to a Green Card. The thought of waiting that long was discouraging.

In contrast, the EB-5 program offered a direct and much faster route to permanent residency through investment. I was initially skeptical—how could just investing money lead to a Green Card so quickly when other paths took much longer?

So, I did some in-depth research. The more I learned about the EB-5 program, the more it appeared to be credible and practical. During my research, I also spoke to other EB-5 investors, and their positive experiences reassured me.

My background as an entrepreneur also motivated me to make an EB-5 investment. Having traveled around the world and conducted business in many countries, I’ve always valued global exposure.

I wanted my children to benefit from similar experiences, and I believed that an international education would give them an edge in their future careers.

My Criteria for an EB-5 Immigration Attorney

My journey with the EB-5 visa program began quite unexpectedly. I was in my office in India when a representative of an EB-5 firm visited me. He introduced a specific EB-5 project his firm was promoting. He mentioned that he could connect me with immigration attorneys who specialized in the EB-5 process.

The first few attorneys I was introduced to simply sent me their service quotes, and then they seemed to disappear—no follow-ups or questions about my needs or concerns. This left me wondering if all attorneys behaved this way. Was it normal to receive a quote and then hear nothing unless I paid them?

My search continued, and through networking, I was eventually introduced to Fragomen, a well-known immigration law firm. I immediately noticed a huge difference in my interaction with Fragomen. Unlike the previous attorneys, my discussions with Fragomen were helpful. They were keen to answer all my questions without any immediate pressure to hire them.

Instead of trying to “force” me to pay them, they presented EB-5 as one of several options available to me, encouraging me to explore all these options before making a decision. This shows the importance of choosing an attorney who is genuinely interested in you and your needs, not just in getting paid by another client.

My first contact at Fragomen was Mitch, a senior attorney. After our initial discussion, he introduced me to his partner, John, who would handle my case going forward. John was very attentive to my questions. He took the time to understand my business and the origin of my investment funds, anticipating the potential issues I might face when preparing my source of funds documents.

Since John was very proactive, the source of funds documentation process was smooth. He quickly provided a comprehensive list of the documents I needed to collect.

The actual time I spent gathering all the documents was around only nine hours—which, when spread out over a month, amounted to much less work than one might expect.

In sum, my advice is to hire an attorney who is not only experienced but also personally committed to making your EB-5 petitions a success. Your immigration attorney should be available to answer your questions quickly and should take the time to really understand the source of your EB-5 funds.

Choosing an EB-5 Project

One of my most important criteria was to find an EB-5 project that would return my funds with minimal risk. At first, I focused on urban projects since these are known for their higher success rates.

After evaluating numerous options, I narrowed my focus to projects that were already underway—many things can go wrong with early-stage or pre-construction EB-5 projects, so I wanted to make sure any project I invested in had already surmounted any of these potential pitfalls.

However, I eventually realized that investors in urban projects would likely enter a processing backlog and have to wait several additional years before getting their Green Cards.

So, I turned my attention to rural projects instead, which have a larger supply of set-aside visas and are far less likely to enter a long-term backlog.

As with my earlier analysis, in my search for a rural project, I dismissed projects like resorts or hotels that hadn’t started construction.

Broadband Infrastructure: A High-Risk Industry for Rural EB-5 Projects

During my search, I came across a rural project that would provide broadband internet access to a rural area. At first, it seemed that this project had good financial potential.

But then I decided to take a closer look at the future of the broadband infrastructure industry.

This rural project would be completed in about five to six years. By then, traditional internet infrastructure could be obsolete, especially in rural areas. If this were to happen, the success of the project—and therefore of my immigration—would be in jeopardy.

Starlink and the Future of Internet Connectivity in Rural Areas

Starlink, which could disrupt traditional broadband infrastructure projects within the next few years, was one of the major factors that contributed to my conclusion on the project’s likely outcome. This satellite internet service often provides a faster, more reliable connection than traditional internet infrastructure like cable, fiber optics, and DSL.

Traditional broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas require an extensive amount of physical infrastructure. Laying down miles of cables or fibers in sparsely populated or geographically challenging areas requires a huge financial commitment.

But Starlink can easily avoid these extra costs by using satellites that provide direct internet access. Starlink users in rural communities would only need a small satellite dish and a modem to connect to the internet.

Additionally, Starlink can often deliver a high-speed connection more reliably than traditional internet services. This is because traditional internet services operate from satellites orbiting much farther from Earth. The internet connection can be slower because of the long distances that the signals must travel. However, Starlink’s satellites are positioned in low Earth orbit. This significantly reduces the signal travel time, often providing faster internet service.

Starlink also has more flexibility than traditional internet service providers; it can easily adjust the number of operating satellites according to current demand.

As more satellites are added, Starlink’s capacity and performance can continuously improve. But constantly upgrading and doing maintenance on traditional internet infrastructure can be much more expensive and time consuming.

Rural areas can often gain faster access to the internet with Starlink, without having to wait five or six years for an infrastructure project to be completed.

Due to these various dynamics, it’s quite possible that Starlink will make traditional internet service providers obsolete in rural areas—even within only a few years. As a result, this project, which may have originally seemed promising, proved to be much riskier than what I wanted for my investment.

My advice here is to make sure you thoroughly investigate all aspects of an EB-5 project. These risks weren’t immediately obvious, and my experience shows the importance of making sure your EB-5 project is financially viable.

EB5AN’s Twin Lakes Rural Project

Eventually, I found the Twin Lakes Georgia rural project sponsored by EB5AN. Twin Lakes is a single-family home community near Atlanta, Georgia.

This project stood out because it was not in the early stages of construction; hundreds of residents already live there, and several EB-5 investors in Twin Lakes have I-526E approvals. Being only about an hour away from Atlanta’s downtown, Twin Lakes has attracted many homebuyers and is likely to continue to attract more.

As I dug deeper, I discovered Twin Lakes met all my criteria—low risk, existing infrastructure, and a track record of approvals.

Additionally, the project has already proven its compliance with USCIS policies through its Form I-956F approval.

The developer’s reputation was crucial as well. Some developers I came across had histories of failed projects or defaulted loans. Conversely, The Kolter Group, the developer of the Twin Lakes project, has a clean and successful track record.

My Experience Working with EB5AN

When selecting an EB-5 project, I also had to look for a reliable regional center sponsor.

I reached out to several regional centers, and their responsiveness was a significant factor for me. Some regional centers took days or even a week to respond to my questions, which was a red flag—if they were slow to answer, I worried this would continue during my immigration process, potentially leading to delays or missed deadlines.

EB5AN stood out among all the other regional centers I talked to. They responded to my questions within a few hours. This quick response rate continued even after I made my investment. This gave me peace of mind that my hard-earned funds were in good hands.

Another key factor was the track record and history of the projects managed by the regional center.

EB5AN has a history of successful projects, all of which have been approved by USCIS.

Many regional centers only focus on getting funding, without really educating or supporting their investors. But EB5AN provided extensive information and resources on their website that helped me understand the EB-5 process and my options. Furthermore, this information was unbiased, advising investors to consider various project types based on their specific circumstances.

This educational approach was invaluable. Unlike other regional centers where the interaction felt like a business transaction, EB5AN was genuinely interested in making my immigration journey a success.

The level of personal interaction with EB5AN’s managing partners also impressed me.

In my discussions with other regional centers, I often found myself speaking with junior associates or salespeople. Some of them were mostly there to present slides and didn’t know much about the EB-5 process beyond the specific projects they were promoting.

My interactions with EB5AN differed greatly from these experienced. I was able to communicate directly with the managing partners. This gave me a lot of confidence, as this approach is similar to the way I conduct my own businesses, where being available and accountable to my clients is a priority.

Knowing that the founders and managing partners of EB5AN were involved in my immigration process made me feel much more confident about my investment.

My Advice for Other EB-5 Investors

One key lesson for other EB-5 investors is the importance of focusing not just on the project itself but also on the people involved—that is, the regional center team and the project developer.

Sometimes, a project might look great on paper, but the track record and responsiveness of the people involved are also important. If you can’t directly interact with the regional center team or if they seem indifferent about your concerns, it might not be the right fit.

In fact, I’d recommend allocating about 50% of your decision to evaluating the quality of the regional center sponsor.

You should also consider each project’s financial risk level—namely how likely the project is to repay your funds.

Even though some regional centers promised high returns and a quick repayment period, I opted for a project that was well under construction. It was more established, with visible ongoing construction, which meant more to me than promises.

If possible, visiting the project site can be very helpful. It’s one thing to view pictures of the project site and another thing to see it firsthand. My site visit to Twin Lakes made me much more secure in my investment decision.

And I can’t overemphasize how important it is to work with a regional center sponsor that is committed to your immigration and financial success. EB5AN’s attention to detail made the process much easier for me.

This was perhaps most clear when I was filling out the subscription documents for my EB-5 project. Most regional centers will have you fill in your personal information over and over again on each subscription document.

However, in my case, all the necessary fields in the documents were pre-filled with my personal details, such as my name and passport number. This saved me a lot of time and effort, and it shows a level of care and efficiency that stands out from other EB-5 firms. Just like a good doctor pays attention to every detail, a good regional center takes care of the finer points of your investment process.

Additionally, I would encourage other EB-5 investors to pay close attention to their project’s industry and make sure it has the potential for long-term financial success.

Finally, make sure your regional center operator is committed to helping you at every stage of the EB-5 process—not just wanting to help until they receive your money.

I’m confident that many other foreign nationals can also make successful EB-5 investments and enjoy living in the United States as permanent residents with their families, and it is my hope that my story can help them achieve this.