EB-5 Investor Testimonial:
Shuaib From India

So, basically after you invest the money, everybody knows that EB-5 is not only about investing the money, it’s also making sure your project gets successful and create the jobs. So you really want to see related traceability on the project, what’s happening there? Are they progressing or not? If they’re progressing, how are they progressing, right? So, from EB5AN, the good thing I like is there is a quarterly update that comes in the mail which a detailed description about what project is doing. Initially they’re more talking about what they’re doing and eventually then talking about how much they’re able to sell, what is the percentage of all, and how much money the project has from EB-5 versus their own. So that gives you a good understanding on everything, coming every quarter. So it’s not: I send the money and I’m blank as to what’s happening, I don’t know for four years. Instead, I can see every quarter emails coming from EB5AN, quarterly updates, and that has a whole detail about what’s going on in the project in different stages. That makes me comfortable that our project is on track.

That’s important. They are creating jobs which is critical for EB-5 and they are going to finish. All regular updates from your side. Sam is really awesome.

Let me give a little background. So, technically when you put in the money….. I wasn’t thinking about this. Yeah, I was really looking for big returns, but obviously, anybody who puts money in because they’re taking money from somewhere else and giving here…. From where they’re taking money out, obviously they’re going to lose something because they make money from the money there. So here, when I look at this 6% or whatever the percentage we got, that is a good amount. It’s not like you see generally, you put that money on the bank, you get nothing, technically. But here you get something which is much more than the bank, and in my particular case, I got this whole amount. I also took the equity loan to cover up some part of the 500K at that time. So the good thing that worked for me: the equity loan, I’m paying back the interest, I’m getting more returns from the project. So technically, I’m on the profit side at the end of the day, I haven’t lost any money to the equity loan I took. I made more money from this money.

Right, so roughly I can say the money I got back in my account is roughly $118,000 which is very good. $500,000, you put it four years, then $118,000. It’s good money.

Yeah, sure. I think she’s awesome. I think [Anahita] is very, very detailed and very descriptive on anything you want to know about, because as I said, the two parts: money is the one part and the process for immigration is totally different. There, you need to be very careful about everything, what you’re talking about, what you’re mentioning to the system, and with that happening, one of the critical things I learned is that the source of the funds has to be very well defined to make your case clear to the system. The attorney we worked with, she’s very detailed and not only made a document to submit to the government, she also explained to me what that meant and what things should looks like. I can tell you, after working with her, I can go back 10 years back on my finances, because she has to go all the way to source every fund which linked to the 500K: what was the source, whether the source has a background source.

I can also tell you, when I was doing this, I needed to call some of the banks I worked with in the previous 10 years in India and I was thinking, “Okay, I’ll have bank accounts, I can forget about it.” So the document sheet created was detailed and nothing was missing, anybody can ask questions about everything there. And I think she’s an expert on explaining the different types of documents, right? So if anyone reads this document, maybe he’s not highly knowledgeable, but he can also see this document and explain where the $500,000 comes from and it’s all valid money.

Oh yes, that’s the other great thing she had. So looks like she’s… I can say about the robots nowadays, when you type something in the bank and you immediately get response, but Anahita really worked for the client 24/7. If you really need something and you ask her over email or WhatsApp, the maximum worst case was a one hour wait. But if she’s there, she always give you an update as soon as possible and at least she’s responding to your role. So, I never see any problem. And this is a very important thing too, you should have, as we discussed, you should have confidence in the project you’re investing same time you should also have a confidence on the attorney making your case. And with her I can feel 100% sure she’s making my case strong. So would say a 150% approval.

I think one thing, as you said, the rules changed. With the rules, the amount also changes. So first thing, people should make sure they are ready with that. They should have a plan. The people like me who are on H-1Bs need to consider the backlog, especially for India; it looks like end up infinite loop is happening there. We don’t know when things are moving and when your number will come. It’s like nobody can predict that now. So we really need to think through about other options. And EB-5 has a top of the list, as you said, everywhere because with the new rules, I think new investors have an advantage. I can see that with the new reserved quota they have. So, there’s no need to really worry about some old backlogs that are cleaning up very fast now.

But new EB-5 investors are immediately current so they can invest money and immediately they’re current. So I’m hoping they have more advantages than us right now in some cases. They can immediately be current. They get their EADs, their APs, and I’m also hearing that their I-526 approvals will be faster in some order. So, if you go from this H-1B loop and get an EAD and an AP, your life will be totally different. Not only you. Your kids’ life will also be very different. I have a son who is in college, I can feel it now. He’s very happy because once he got an EAD, he started doing all jobs after college and whatever he wants, which was impossible before. So I really say, people, if they can make the money, (the amount, obviously it’s not small), if they can make it, they should look for this EB-5 approach and some of the projects that have returns. They’re putting in the money, and they’re also getting returns.

One thing in my case is, you can see the developer’s background and history, their past history and culture. I think this before this project, they also did the other project. So, their success rate was pretty much 100%. And so, their track record. That basically shows you: the person who is able to do this thing two times or three times, doing it a fourth time is always easy for them. And they also understand the market where you’re putting the money in and the people who are using your money, they know what they’re doing. So looking their background is very important, their history, what they did. And second is when you find out and always you end up with two, three projects. So obviously when you have attorney, you can talk to your attorney about what else you can look on that. And the EB5AN people are already only getting projects that are really good. So I’m not seeing that, as an investor, we have to do a lot of work. I think people have done most of the work for us. We have to just pick the best one which we like.

One thing: believe in your six sense, that is your best friend. Believe in yourself and your six sense, basically. And go ahead with EB5AN, I’m not saying anything will be happen wrong if your intention is right and you are the right people. Sam, I really believe anybody working with you and your company will be safe.