EB-5 Investor Testimonial:
Siva From Sri Lanka

I’d be happy to. In terms of the background that I have, I’ve been in financial services for around 15 years. I was familiar with the basic concepts of the EB-5 coming into the process, but I had to do a lot of research into it before I felt comfortable actually progressing with it. The main thing that we wanted to do was ensure a successful application. It was very important to us to go with a project that we felt comfortable with, and that we felt would give us a high chance of return of capital, and any interest owed.

The U.S. itself appealed to us for a number of reasons. We’ve been to the U.S. a lot. We have some family there, and we also have the opportunity in the U.S. to be able to work under the EB-5 program. It was appealing on a number of different fronts, from employment to family setup, and overall quality of life.

Yeah, we did look at a few other potentials as well. In terms of the flexibility that the EB-5 visa gives you, it is far superior. It allows you to work as well as to live in the country. It covers your whole family. It’s unconditional after the two years. In our opinion, it was the best option for us, to give us the most flexibility.

Absolutely. I think the EB-5 attorney is a critical part of the whole process. You need to feel very comfortable that the attorney that you picked has a good track record, has experience in this field, and ideally, specializes in this field. We used those criteria to choose a lawyer, an attorney, and they act as not only somebody to help you with the application, but also, as a guide throughout the whole process. I would say it’s very important to choose an attorney that comes recommended, that has experience, that asks for a reasonable structure regarding fees, and is very comfortable with applications from your country of birth.

The process was very quick. The process was very quick indeed. They got to know us. They spent a lot of time just [learning about and] understanding our situation. Once we agreed that this was the attorney that we wanted, we agreed on the terms of engagement, which included things like what would be included under the standard fee and what wouldn’t be included. I would recommend that people choose an attorney that covers them quite wholly and fully on the process, because things do take time, and there are sometimes unexpected hurdles that may pop up, and you want to make sure that your agreement with the attorney covers all of that.

Once we’d agreed on the terms of engagement, then the process started. The next step, while the attorney was working on the application, was to choose a project that we were happy with. The attorney also had a look at the project, to ensure, at least from a legal perspective, that it fulfilled the criteria for the right type of project for this program. It is very important that you have an attorney that you feel comfortable with, that’s responsive, that can give you a sense of comfort of assurance that the project that you’ve selected is, at least from a legal perspective, sound for the purposes of the application.

I’d say unfortunately, the EB-5 program as a whole is one that has attracted a level of dishonesty from a number of the people offering services and projects. For us, it was absolutely integral to find somebody that we were able to trust, that we felt in safe hands with, that had a very good track record, and that understood the significance of the sums of money that were being invested by the individual investor.

When we spoke to Sam, you, from EB5AN, we certainly received all of those things. With your track record and your background, we felt that you had the right credentials to be handling this sort of project. There are vast amounts of money involved in each project, and you need somebody who’s, A, someone of high integrity, and, B, someone who understands the financial element of the instruments that are actually being agreed to.

We felt, with EB-5 Affiliate Network (EB5AN), we had people that we could trust but also actually understood the products, and understood the risks that were being taken, and were honest and straightforward in the things that they were saying, little things like the [investment] terms. You can always tell whether somebody’s being honest with you when they say, “A four- to seven-year term will probably end at four years, or end at seven years.”

In reality, the person selling you the product should always tell you to expect seven years when the terms aren’t particularly compelling for the seller. We felt, by speaking to EB5AN, that we were getting an honest and straightforward set of answers to all the questions that we were putting forward. That was really important, because ultimately, you’re investing in a project. However, that project is selected and marketed by a regional center. You have to believe that that regional center operates with integrity. Otherwise, it can become problematic and troublesome down the road. We really wanted to go with somebody that we felt we could trust, somebody who had the right credentials, and somebody who had attention to detail, and experience in this area. That’s why we selected EB5AN.

The rural projects do benefit from priority processing, which was a consideration, but also, [we chose rural because of] the actual projects on their own merit. Some of the urban projects came with risks that we felt uncomfortable with. They were, for example, previously bankrupted projects, or they were projects that didn’t really seem to us like they had sound business viability. For us, the idea of investing in a project that was rural came with benefits, but it was actually this project [Twin Lakes Georgia] specifically. You could see, in terms of the capital stack, retained profits within the business, their track record of delivering this type of project, that we felt very comfortable with. It was a combination of the fact that it was rural, but also, the project in its own right, and the way that the project had been fairly successful to date, with a very successful project owner, or manager, in Kolter. Kolter has an excellent track record, and a guaranty from the holding parent company made us feel very comfortable—as comfortable as we could be, given the situation we were in.

The alternate projects [the other EB-5 projects we could have invested in], as I said, came with various issues in terms of business viability, or in terms of previous track records on that site, or even more specifically, that exact project. Some projects we’d seen (which, once again, comes back to the integrity of the person promoting the project) we found out ourselves had financial difficulties before, and had been bankrupted.

That worried us greatly, and we wanted to go with somebody reliable, somebody who had done many of the types of projects that they’re doing, somebody with reputation and credibility—but also, something to lose, in case the project did not go well. It was really a lot of different factors, alongside the fact that it was a rural project, that made us choose Twin Lakes.

Exactly.

Yeah, exactly that.

Yeah, absolutely. In my opinion, there’s two risks to EB-5. There’s an immigration risk and a financial risk. The immigration risk can be largely mitigated by choosing projects that have job creation in advance, and that have the relevant approvals. For us, the immigration risk was the key one, because we did not want a situation where, later down the line, we were to find out that the project wasn’t valid, or anything along those lines, which would then render us in a very weak position. What we tried to do was choose a project that had the job creation done, because you do not want to risk that situation going the wrong way, and then from there, choose financially, what looked like the best project.

Some people will say there are, financially, probably better projects available. Perhaps, but for us, the immigration risk was the absolute key risk. It’s great getting a slightly higher rate on a project, but if you don’t get your immigration sorted out, then it all becomes rather worthless in the grand scheme of things.

It was very important because, ultimately, each project comes with risks. That’s the nature of investing, and there’s a few things you can do to mitigate those risks. Even if you choose a good project that looks like a solid idea with solid financials, things can always go wrong. For us, it was important to choose a borrower that had been through various business cycles, and being able to get through them without any defaults on any of their loans. For us, that was probably the single most important factor.

A project can sound great, but financial conditions and economic conditions can change, and the best projects can then be awful. Then, what you’re relying on is not the capacity for someone to pay, but their willingness to pay, and to stick by the terms of the deal. For us, it was very important that Kolter had that excellent track record, because ultimately, when economic conditions change, that’s what matters the most. When you’re in a loan scenario, that is absolutely critical, that the company’s ethos is that of a company that does not default on loans, and that does absolutely always repay its debts.

I think, to be fair, there were other projects out there that had reliable real estate… the companies that were borrowing the money were reliable, and they’d repaid their debts, and they’d had no issues with loans. However, they were far and few between. A lot of the projects were funded by companies that had defaulted. Well, at least some of the projects had defaulted. Also, the regional centers: not all of them had a perfect track record. Some of them had allowed investors to, for example, sign deals that had no security under the loan agreement. It is absolutely critical that you do find somebody that you can trust in terms of their repayment record, and there are actually not that many that have a very good record. If you can find one that does, I’d advise it’s a good place to start, because there’s not that many of them, and that track record is very valuable.

I’d say that the team was extremely smooth. Everybody knew exactly what they were doing. It was clearly an experienced team, and clearly a team that had been through this process a number of times without any hitches or glitches. It was very smooth. I had no problem with it. I liked the upfront nature of the team. Everything was very clear. The means of communication were very responsive, documents were transferred immediately. It was, for me, a very clean and smooth process, with people that knew what they were talking about, and knew what they were doing.

I’d say the main difference was, the other regional centers, they were large, sprawling companies, with really no point of ownership that you could contact. I felt like a lot of the time, we were speaking to salespeople as opposed to the principals of the regional centers. Personally, if I’m investing that amount of money, I want to speak to the person that’s in charge, and I don’t want to speak to a salesperson. I felt that, with almost every single other regional center, we were speaking to salespeople who were generally incentivized differently from the actual principals of the regional centers. For us, that was a critical difference; throughout the process, I was speaking to a partner of the regional center as opposed to a person that was employed by the regional center. That was the biggest difference, and that made a great difference when we were choosing who to go with.

My advice would be fairly simple. Get an attorney that has a very good track record and that you gel with and click with. They need to be on the same wavelength as you, and you need to be able to trust them. In terms of the project, do your research, speak to as many people as you can, and understand the state of the marketplace in terms of what projects are out there; what are the advantages and disadvantages of each project. In my opinion, you should choose a project where you can trust the person that you’re speaking to at the regional center. They should be a principal or a partner in that regional center. They should not, in my opinion, be a salesperson. They should be somebody with a stake in the reputation of the regional center, as opposed to somebody who can move between different things [job positions].

Make sure you’re speaking to the principal, and make sure you choose a project from somebody who has a perfect track record. Even a small imperfection or blemish on the track record, for me, renders that project a red light. I think those are the three things. Get a good attorney, find a regional center that allows you to speak to the person that is in charge—or at least a partner within that regional center—and make sure that the project that you choose is with somebody who has a very good track record. It’s a very long duration on some of these projects, and you need to be able to say to yourself, “Whatever the economic circumstances, this borrower has the willingness to repay and make good on the loans that they’re taking out.”

Yeah, I would absolutely recommend the attorney that we used. It was [the immigration law firm] George & Marzialo. They were fantastic, absolutely brilliant, not a single complaint. They were very efficient, very responsive, very aware of the process. I couldn’t speak any more highly of that team there. They were just brilliant, and our lawyer, Anahita George, was fantastic.

With EB5AN, our experience was excellent, extremely responsive. Once again, a smooth process. I got to speak to the principal and partner of the regional center. Absolutely no issues at all with EB5AN, a fantastic experience there. The project, it will vary project to project. This project, I felt, was the best one for us at the time on the market. At this time, it feels to me, like I said, it was the best one on the market for us. Absolutely, I just can’t say any more really than that, in the sense that both EB5AN and our attorney were very smooth, very professional, and I felt like they operated with the highest level of integrity.