EB-5 Investor Testimonial: Sanjay From India

Yeah, sure. Sounds good. I’m Sanjay Vishwakarma. I’m from India, specifically the northern part of India. I came here in 2018 to pursue a master’s. Since then, I’m here.

The reason for EB-5 processing is mostly because of the stability. As we work here on H-1B, there are a lot of uncertainties there—60-day clock that starts when you lose the job. That can change anything. For that reason, I was thinking to have some stability in the life, and I thought EB-5 is a straightforward path. For this reason, I decided to go with this EB-5.

I mean, I took around one year. I started almost last year, May. I got some of the investor testimonials on YouTube as a recommendation, and then first time, I came to know about the EB-5. Then I got some confidence. Since then, I started exploring what are the steps, how many approvals it would require. I looked into almost all the EB-5 investor testimonials on your site. And then from there, I got the confidence.

From there, I emailed you, and then you connected me with Jordan. From there, I started talking and understanding what are the available projects we have, what are the process, how to start. I wasn’t aware to whom to talk. Jordan has helped me. He at least introduced around 10 attorneys, different attorneys. I interviewed more than 10 attorneys.

The reason for that, this is a multi-year journey. Once we process the application, it takes around four to five years to have final Green Card and the citizenship. So attorneys play a very important role here. At least, we need to have that established attorney, not the brand new who has started their journey a couple of years back. That was one: Attorneys should be established.

And then second is this would have experience handling the EB-5 investors’ applications. At least for my profile, I’m from India, so if they have at least processed 50 of the EB-5 investor profiles from India, they know what are the things that need to be handled for that. That was the second thing.

Third is transparency and the knowledge and the response time. In this journey, when you start, there will be a lot of things—a lot of forms, a lot of finance and all, verification, those things. Response time is very much important.

So I was looking into these three factors, and then I interviewed 10, and then finally I chose the Wolfsdorf.

The first, I mean, the establishment. Some of the attorneys were three-years-old established firm. If you have started your journey as an attorney firm, then you may have definitely less expertise in handling these applications. Also, when you talk, you get the sense of feeling, from the attorney—you can guess, you can judge just how much experience they are. That was the one thing. When I talked to Wolfsdorf, I found them very knowledgeable. Also, their response was very good. One of the team member from their team, he handled my applications, and his team. They were very prompt in responding. Also, I asked tons of questions related to processing my current status, how much time it would take. He was able to answer all.

The crucial part for my application is, when I was processing, I think I first submitted my application in February. During that time, there were some changes in the rules. That application got rejected because they changed the application form for I-526—complete EB-5 things. Then quickly, my attorney team, they jumped into. They refiled the application. And then I think in April, I got the case and acknowledgement.

Yeah, I think choosing your attorney is very crucial. These are the things I think I have chosen that people may want to consider.

For me, my total source of fund was from the USA, from the States itself. For me, it wasn’t so much difficult. I completed within 10 days. I shared the same thing. As all the source of fund was earned from me itself in the States, it was straightforward, a couple of back-and-forth, and then within 10 days, we were able to finalize it.

If you have the source of fund from here, make sure that this is ready to use, because sometimes the source of fund, they don’t keep almost $1 million in the savings account. Source of fund can be in any form. It could be the stocks or it could be the real estate. If you plan to use your source of fund from the USA, make sure that you have so much money already, because things change. If it is in some form of the investment and if this is not liquid cash, then the time you invest or the time you get where you need to transfer the amount, that amount may change. Because for me, most of the source of fund was in stocks, and during February, there were a lot of changes. Stocks were falling like crazy. Those kind of planning is very necessary.

For regional center, I didn’t explore much—maybe two, three. As I said, that first time I got the YouTube recommendation from some of the EB-5 investor testimonials. From there, I came to know that … I mean understood there is some list of the regional centers we have. From testimonials, I understood that the real estate project is one of the safest way, because we invest the money and we expect a Green Card as well as … Definitely, the fund is not guaranteed. That’s on the risk. But at the same time, you expect it. At least if they’re not guaranteed, there are some builders who does the guaranty as well. But as long as the fund can be placed in terms of real estate values, that can also be one of the factors. So from your testimonial, investor testimonial, I understood that real estate project is one of the best ways to go.

I looked into four or five different regional centers. Some were having projects like a windmill or something. Different projects I looked into, but I didn’t feel much confidence on them. For EB5AN, at least we were having something, some project where we were making some progress—for example, Tamarack. The job was already created. Also, they were doing the selling. I mean, these are the things I consider for regional centers and then choosing the project.

Definitely, rural plays an important role, especially when you’re from India or China, because the wait time, it’s a lot when you go for the urban. Rural was one of the factor. I just wanted to go with the rural one.

At the same time, I wanted to make sure that the job creation guaranty we have. The time when I was processing this application, I was having only two options. One is Tamarack, and other was one more project where we were starting. We were just laying the foundation. Job was also not created. I mean, that builder was having a fund guaranty—I mean, return of the fund guaranty they were giving. These are the two options I was having. Out of them, I chose this Tamarack one because of rural first and the second is the job creation guaranty.

Your team is great, especially Jordan. Most of my interaction has happened with Jordan. He’s very knowledgeable. He has the knowledge about the project, process, everything.

The one thing, I noticed the transparency. For example, this Tamarack project, when I was processing, none of the investor was having approved I-526 the time when I was processing. I was trying to do the due diligence. I was trying to understand how safe this project is. I was trying to understand how many investors has already have approval for their applications. I was asking a lot of questions, and I was very much particular about how many investors has already got approval for I-526. But at that time, there was not—none of the investor was having that approval. Jordan clearly mentioned that none of the investors has been approved: “We are processing. You are maybe the first of 50 investors in this project.”

I mean, he was able to clearly convey the plus point as well as negative point of the project. That gave the confidence.

Second thing is that transparency. Whatever your team has, they clearly share with the investors. That gives the confidence. This is the example I would say with your team and the regional center. I talked with the other regional center also. I talked to one of the same real estate project in Seattle. They weren’t even knowing whether their project come under the rural or urban. The clarity on the project, knowledge about the process, I felt very … I didn’t get the feeling of the confidence with them. That’s the difference I would say between the two regional center and also about the team. Kudos to your team. Your team is good—great actually, not good.

I mean, builder plays an important role. I think the builder for Tamarack is MMG. For them, that is the first EB-5 project. I studied their history, how many projects they have done. They have a lot of projects in Florida, but in EB-5 sector, this is the first time they are entering. That was the one thing.

Other than that, I mean, this regional center has a lot of projects from other builders, and they have a lot of experience. Unfortunately, that time I was having only this option. Second project was very initial stage. They were having only the land, and they were making the initial construction, laying down the pipes and all. Frankly speaking, I wasn’t having much option from your regional center. I was having one. But the good part was the job creation was guaranteed in this project. And the builder, MMG, they were doing the first-time project in EB-5. But I saw that a lot of construction has happened in Florida. That way, I did little bits of study about the builder and then decided this.

Two things here: regional center and second is project. The regional center, for both, the important thing is the history, looking to their history—how many project they have done, the regional center, and what are their success rate. That is for the regional center.

Second is project. The important thing about the project is … Projects should have approval from USCIS. That is the very first thing. And then second is job creation. The ultimate thing is job creation. Unless you get 10 jobs, then only you’ll be able to get this Green Card. If jobs have already not been created, then there are a lot research has to be done. We need to look into how they are estimating, how they’re predicting how many jobs will be created, what are the things has been taken into account, what are the factors they have involved. It requires the studies, if the job has not already been created, because that’s the most important thing, job creation, is that all investing will go.

So look into the regional center history. On project, look into the job creation statistics, how they have done the computation. Look into builder history—how many project the builder has done, if there is a previous project on the EB-5 from that builder, whether that builder was able to return the money to the investor or not, how many EB-5 applications were successful. Those kind of things play a very important role.

Other than this, also, as I said, the communication, knowledge, those are really important things to have. This would always get updated with the market, because the rules keep changing very frequently. That is also a very important thing. So yeah, I think I would suggest these things.

Yeah. One more thing I would like to add into this one, after doing all these things, when you do the investment, make sure you understand what is your position in the investment. For example, maybe the project has the approval of, for example, 100 EB-5 investors. Then when you are investing, make sure what is your position into that. And the 10-job creation, get confidence in the number when you invest. For example, only 100 jobs has been created. Those 100 jobs, that will be distributed to 10 investors. I mean, that’s really sufficient for the first 10 investors. Suppose the project capacity to accommodate 100 investors, and your position is 50 or 51, and the project was able to create only 100 jobs. Those 100 jobs will go to the first chain of the investor. But you are later into that project. That may create the complexity, and it may complicate. So make sure that you understand that part as well.