EB-5 Investor Testimonial:
Mohan Kumar

Thank you very much, Sam. I am Mohan Kumar. I’m currently based in Lagos. I am the director of the Dangote Refinery project. It’s a prestigious project here. I’m been here for the last 10 years. Of course, I have a long career. My son is in the U.S.. Currently, he’s on his STEM, and after STEM, he’ll be on the CPT. He has tried to get the H-1B visa through his employer four times. All four times he didn’t get it.

Sometime last year then we decided, why not we look at this option? Because I heard about this option of the EB-5 investment route for a Green Card a couple of years ago through my brother, who is in Miami. He was talking about a condominium project in Miami. That was a long time back. Last year, then we decided, “Yes, let’s do it.”

When we looked at the funds, the minimum required limit was raised from $500,000 to $800,000. That was one of the features. First, we looked at that and then we decided, “Yes, we’ll be able to do that.” Then we went ahead: “Yes, now we’ll go for EB-5 for my son.”

Initially, we did have another friend who was also going for EB-5 through a private project, which I never knew about what, because I was not very familiar with the details about EB-5. We said, “We’ve got to go with him.” Somewhere there was a delay. I was not very clear on the project because we did meet many attorneys and many consultants. Finally, I decided to do it on my own.

Last year, we started the search in August. We went on: me, my wife, and my son—all of us got into research mode and got more information about this. That’s how we started the EB-5 journey.

If I want to tell you about why we decided on this project and also on EB5AN: we did a Google search, as most do, and we talked to some of the friends who also knew [about EB-5]. Some of them were aware about it. With all that information, we zeroed down on four regional centers. Then when we looked at them, finally, we came down to only about three of them.

Then we said, “There are two aspects very important for us, our objective. One is getting the Green Card and the second one is the security of the investment.” We wanted to get the investment back, because basically I was investing the entire amount and it was supposed to be returned, hopefully. These are twin objectives. When we look at these twin objectives, both are important.

Then we said: “ Two important aspects are required.” One is a good regional center and the second is a very good project. If you have both, then that will ensure that. This has to be vetted by an attorney. A good attorney is required—someone who can vet the requirements of the USCIS test, the regional center and our requirements. So, somebody who understands all. These are three [aspects] which we came to.

Then, we started looking at the projects—projects are important. Any project that we thought would be viable on its own and would be able to return the capital. If the project is going to fail, it’s a problem.

At the time, there was one important input my brother gave—because, two years ago, there was a condominium project in Miami which he had suggested to do. That project had failed. It did not take off. That was very important. When we looked at it, we said, “We need to preferably look at a rural project, and if a targeted employment area project is there, then that’ll be the best. Because if both are there, then the probability of getting the Green Card is faster.” That’s why we thought, “Let’s take that into account.”

There was another green hydrogen project we looked at. That was very attractive. There’s no doubt about it. The returns, the project were fantastic, but there is one important aspect. The documents I found showed that the whole project relied solely on government incentives. If the government incentives were, the project would not be viable. As I’m also coming from the refining industry, I know what hydrogen is, and green hydrogen.

We had a chat with them. The government can change, or government policy can change. In that case, the whole project is gone, and it’s an eight-year window we need to have. The risk was too high, and we were not sure about even getting the Green Card successfully, so we dropped that.

Finally, we zeroed in on only two. One we zeroed in on straight was EB5AN. One important aspect is that we saw this: Sam was very impressive. Let me tell you that. You won’t believe. I just sent an email, and when I got his references, he responded within an hour, and we in fact fixed the time for a call. The time was a very odd time for because I was in India. But he kept that appointment, and I found him very upfront, open, with almost an hour-long discussion.

Then I also looked at the company’s performance. They started in 2013 and had been successful on 8+ projects they were already on. He explained the projects and he also explained everything. Like I said, I was very new. I didn’t know much. So that way, the way he was transparent that made me feel confident. I had also seen other regional centers.

From there I realized, “This is a man whom I can trust, that’s the judgment I have.” See, I’m basically a chairman. I interview thousands of people. So that’s that made me feel, “Okay, this man is trustworthy.” There’s something I really liked from the responses and the way he conducted himself. What he didn’t know, he said, “No, this cannot be done, or this cannot be assured. Because it’s not a guarantee. There’s no guarantee of return at all.”

I had zeroed in on EB5AN, and decided to go with Sam. Then Sam recommended a friend, Anahita [to be my immigration attorney]. In fact, I had five rounds of chat with Anahita—had two, three rounds myself and one with my brother as well. He had been a U.S. citizen. She was fantastic; she had knowledge, experience. These two are very important, knowledge and experience. The most important are the attitude toward the client. She was willing to pick up the phone at any time to answer any query. In that way, we found her very good.

While we decided to go with Sam, then we also decided to go with Anahita. One of the important aspects that I was looking at is her understanding of the psyche of Indian investors; she’s also from India, and she’s also of course settled in U.S. The most important aspect is that she was aware about Nigerian income tax laws. Because II work in Nigeria, I earn and I pay taxes here. It’s important for the attorney to know the Nigerian tax laws so that she can relate.

With that, we went with Anahita, and then we also took some of her views about different projects. Then we looked at two projects. One was in Washington. It’s a luxury apartment project. The other one was the Twin Lakes project. Both were attractive. The other one was also very attractive because phase one of the luxury project had fully sold out. It was doing very well. Then, for phase two, nothing was yet to start. Whereas here the Twin Lakes project already had 440 homes sold out, and it is already ahead in terms of the project implementation.

So, looking at both, then we also did some research in terms of questions about this Washington company. A good company, but in terms of this particular project, phase one, what are the issues, because it’s a realty rental? We found there were a lot of questions about various issues, complaints… A lot of availability was there. Because a lot of availability was there we didn’t know what would happen in phase two. The risk was high.

Then we zeroed in straight on Twin Lakes. It’s small homes targeted for people who retire and who want to move in and settle there so that they can live comfortably with a lesser investment and they can live happily in the community. Already 440 homes are sold out. With this, we zeroed in on the Twin Lakes project. We selected EB5AN, Sam, Anahita and the Twin Lakes project. That’s how we went through.

One of the important aspects was that we wanted to be sure about the Green Card. Last year, September, we found out that Kolter was a very important aspect in this. Kolter does not have a single project not completed, and not one loan repayment not done. Everything has been done. They are one of the top five private home builders in United States and have an excellent reputation. They started, I think, in February 1997, and built over 20,000 homes. Reputation was impeccable.

It’s not a loan. It’s an equity investment. We preferred an equity investment. We decided to go by the reputation of the builder. That is something very important. That was the clincher. Once we decided to go ahead, we went on to finalize.

Anahita was the fifth attorney we spoke to, and the other three were all American attorneys, and two of them were very familiar with the Indian context. Anahita was one of them. It’s a literally exchange of views, and regarding the kind of questions they also asked me, I found that Anahita’s questions were pointed. She wanted to know specifically the background of the income source.

With all that, the confidence generated was good, and she was willing to talk anytime. We also checked that with the others.. She gave her WhatsApp number, and we had some queries, we sent a message, and she was responding. I also requested, “Can I have a call with my brother?” Because my brother has been there. I just thought as a reference point, it’d be useful. We also had a call with him. Everything went off very well. Everybody and my wife also felt she seems to be very confident and very clear. She’s very, very sharp. That’s what we could see. With that, we went ahead with her.

All through, I should mention that she was always sharp. Sharp in the sense that even when we had to give her documents, she was sharp. She wasn’t always accepting everything, just like that, run-of-the-mill. Every document she looked at, she’ll ask, “Why?”

Sometimes , I even felt irritated. But I though, “She’s only doing this for our own good.” She used to tell me that others felt that she was asking too many questions. But I said, “No, it’s only for our good,” because she wanted to do every check so that no questions, no stones were unturned when USCIS looked at these documents, which are most important. They want everything to be done perfectly, the investment coming from the correct sources. They wanted everything to be linked.

In fact, I sold my house. In fact, that was one of the integral parts of my investment also. I sold the house last year just before deciding. It was sometime in month of August. I had taken a loan for the house. So Citibank loan, clearance document, everything was there, the repaid loan; everything was fine. The money I got was also fully through the bank. Everything was fine.

Anahita asked me questions about, “Okay, you took this in 2003. How did you take it? Where’s the income source, the bank documents at that time showing repayment?” Then I realized that, “Oh, it’s not going to be that simple, and I don’t want to get that delayed.” Then I said, “Okay, let’s drop that completely,” She would also say, “You need to have everything perfect. Otherwise, you could have problems. So later you will have to answer [additional] questions. You should avoid [additional] queries, you should avoid later questions. If the documents are perfect, then you’ll have no [additional] questions.” Then I dropped that, and I decided to do it totally from salary, which I could. That’s what happened.

Then other important aspect is the taxation. With the four other attorneys, we did have a fairly detailed chat about taxation, about what kind of requirements there are at the start. Whereas Anahita, right from the second meeting, she kept asking about that. That was an issue for me because last year I was in India, then I realized that I needed to get all the taxation certificates from Nigeria: the tax returns and the proof, everything. Then I had to come back. That’s why I’m now in Nigeria. I’m back in Lagos, so I could get all the documents.

There were a lot of issues. Nigeria has its own setup, so we do have issues. Anahita that way was very proactive in terms of understanding, and she also got some input from KPMG. Finally, the documents, that’s fine. Documentation was the key. That’s what I could understand, and she was perfect. She was also assisted by a colleague, Nick, and both of them were very good. That’s been the experience.

Let me tell you, we completed the documentation on the day that Aditya sent the investment money. The previous day, there’s was still one remittance of mine to be tracked, the last remittance. Then I had to get that certificate from the company that processed it. That was the last document. With that, she said the source of funds documents were perfect.

That’s been the journey so far. We have filed it. Anahita, I should give full credit to her because she’s given us a lot of confidence. There’s no stone unturned. I think all the documents are perfect. Every dollar is accounted for. Every dollar is traced. That’s how it is. I understand the project is also doing well. The Twin Lakes project is doing well. They have sold more recently. That’s good news. That’s where we are now.

See, the first one is the builder reputation. Because any realty development, anyone who wants to buy homes, is going to first look at the reputation of the person promoting the project. The reputation of the promoter is good. That’s the first one.

Second one, is the project itself, looking at the macroeconomic indicators and the economic cycle it was going to. It was very clear that the interest regime was going up, and so people would move away from luxury. The second one was looking at the project because unless they sell, they cannot complete the project successfully. The market viability of the project, basically.

Third is in terms of the where it is located because we wanted a rural TEA project. That’s how you can ensure that you get the greed card quicker, and that is an important aspect.

The other one is that we wanted to join a project that was already ongoing, that was already doing brilliantly, on a growth path. That was also fulfilled. That had already taken off.

The most important aspect is they have already created the jobs. The jobs for all the investors were created already, and that was the most important. That is where you start from. We had already considered this because it means that the Green Card is almost assured, because they’ve already created the employment required for that. That was a very important aspect. These are the four aspects which we looked at and that made us go for the Twin Lakes project.

We had actually looked at other regional centers, and EB5AN was very transparent. The most important thing we looked at was, “Who are the promoters? Who are the people behind this?” They were all highly educated, very good backgrounds, excellent pedigrees.

All that translated to when we interacted. For example, Sam and his colleagues, when we interacted, were very professional and they were open, they were able to share what all could be shared, and they were able to give us opinions. They also had an excellent repository of data, so we could look into a lot of the data, even testimonials, including about different projects. Even the Dropbox files gave all the information. They gave everything upfront, the subscription documents—everything they had advance. At every stage, if we had any doubt, we could call and that was answerable.

The most important thing is that Sam was clear when I was asking about the project, how much they had sold, everything. We used to get reports—last month they sold this, this month they sold this. This means that they are on track of how it is doing, and all that made a very big difference in terms of building the confidence. That’s the reason why EB5AN, which we chose, was fantastic.

One important point is that there was some… One of the other regional centers recommended the energy project. But the problem is it depends purely on incentives. They never mentioned the negative, despite me asking. Despite me asking, I had several rounds. Finally, I had to tell them: “This is an issue.” They agreed. They never told openly.

That is dangerous because ultimately, here are our lifetime savings are there and we need to, one, get a Green Card and ensure our capital is safe. Here is the regional center that was transparent, was open. In fact, Sam was clear, there’s clarity, on helping you to select [a project]. “We’ll help you to make a decision.” We were able to take a decision. So that was very good.

On the other hand, there’s other ones. “Do this. This is very good for you.” The most important thing is that they didn’t reveal the fact that it is fully based on the government incentive. Finally, when I said that was the reason I wasn’t going with it, they accepted. “Yes, don’t tell others,” is what they said.

That’s why EB5AN is one of the best… among the 8 or 10 we evaluated, we looked at the ranking and based on that only went with EB5AN. We were very comfortable with them, we were happy, and that’s where we are.