Select Highlights of the Interview with Jeremy from Singapore
EB-5 Investor in the EB5AN Grand Park Rural EB-5 Project
- “It was pretty clear to us that EB-5 was the way to go. It seemed to provide a relatively high degree of certainty, which is what I valued. So whilst we were aware of some other options, this one seemed to be the one that provided certainty in a reasonable time period.”
- “So I think in your case, we were very comfortable with yourselves. We liked the fact it was a rural project, it had the approval, and it was ready Q1 to receive funds and to go live. And the Grand Park project seemed something sound and we’re comfortable to proceed on that basis.”
- “We’ve had a pretty good experience, I would say. So we’re very happy we did it and absolutely no regrets.”
Full Interview with Jeremy from Singapore
EB-5 Investor in the EB5AN Grand Park Rural EB-5 Project
Transcript of the Interview with Jeremy from Singapore
My Family’s Background and Why We Chose EB-5
Hi everyone. I'm Sam Silverman, managing partner of EB5AN. Thank you for taking time to join us for this video. Today, we're going to be discussing the Grand Park Rural EB-5 project, and we're going to be speaking with an EB-5 investor, Jeremy from Singapore, who decided to join this project. So Jeremy, thank you for taking some time to join us today and share some of your thoughts on EB-5, why you decided to pursue it, and why the Grand Park project specifically. So to start, maybe tell us a little bit about yourself and kind of what your exposure has been to the US, and how did that kind of lead you to be interested in EB-5?
Sure. Hi. Yeah, great to be with you. So yeah, I have some children studying in the US, and there are hopes to continue working in the US after graduation. And we’ve been looking at the visa options, and EB-5 came into view for us, and this seemed to be the way to go. So we did some research and committed to proceed with the EB-5 process, which is underway now, but hopefully we’re on track.
Were there other visas you looked at or were you just kind of decided EB-5 was going to be the best option?
It was pretty clear to us that EB-5 was the way to go. It seemed to provide a relatively high degree of certainty, which is what I valued. So whilst we were aware of some other options, this one seemed to be the one that provided certainty in a reasonable time period.
Choosing an Immigration Attorney and Preparing Source of Funds Documentation
And so once you had decided, okay, EB-5 is the best fit for your situation and kind of family plan for the next five, 10 years, what did you do in terms of next steps researching potential immigration attorneys to help you with assembling your application?
Yeah, no, that was the starting point. Well, almost the starting point having decided EB-5 was the route for us. So getting strong experience, legal advice was critical for me. And through our research, we came across Fragomen who seemed to tick all the boxes. So pretty quickly we engaged them having had some dialogue with them on their terms and experience directly, but we were happy to proceed with them. And at the end of the day, they were really the only one for us.
Yeah, we have many, many clients that have successfully gone through the process with them. So tell us a little bit about kind of what that documentation process looked like, what types of documents you had to provide, how that whole thing went, how long did it take… And having gone through it, were there things you would've done differently or would kind of advise for somebody about to go through it themselves?
Yes, I mean, I do intend to give them feedback in due course. We’re not at that point yet because we haven’t got the EB-5 approved, but I do feel having gone on the journey, there are things that were good and there are things that could be better. But by and large, they set out the steps fairly clearly and the fees, both the government fees as well as their own fees. So we had pretty good visibility on the process. Most of the documentation was relatively straightforward, albeit the source of funds was quite laborious and quite almost troublesome, I would say—getting it in a format that Fragomen were comfortable with, which is fine. I mean, we respect their opinion on what is required and would go to every step possible to give them that information. I feel that process could be improved a bit, but the source of funds was the more troublesome one.
And I thought my case was pretty plain vanilla, frankly, sitting in the country that I sit in and my personal circumstances. But anyway, we got that all sorted out. It was a slight delay, a matter of weeks rather than months, but eventually we got the… Or filed in April 26th.
And this was for your child, correct? You were providing the funds, but it was your child who was doing that application.
Correct. We did a gift. Yeah, that’s for child.
Selecting a Regional Center and the Grand Park Rural EB-5 Project
So let's shift gears and talk a little bit about the regional center selection and ultimately the project. So kind of in parallel with your decision to go with Fragomen and get that paperwork exercise underway, just kind of tell me, how did you strategize and proceed with your search for a regional center sponsor and the project? What things were you looking for and what did that whole process... How many companies did you talk to? How many projects did you look at? Just that whole...
Sure. Yeah, I mean, we were coming into this kind of blind with zero familiarity. So having picked Fragomen, who we were very comfortable with, they did give us some names of regional centers who they had worked with previously. So we reached out to those, I think it was a small handful, engaged with them. A reasonable diversity in terms of profile. Some seemed very small, almost one man, one band. Others are more blue chip perhaps. And I guess fairly quickly we kind of shortlisted down to yourselves and perhaps one other comfortable with your team. So the regional center selection was relatively straight, fall down from a small handful to a couple. And then what we were particularly looking for perhaps was a rural project. We felt or were under the impression that this might be a bit of a speedier route. So we were looking for a rural project and then actually we were looking for a project that met our timeline.
So we were looking to file in April, so we needed to have a project that was live, ready for the receipt of funds in Q1 this year. So that whittled down the number of projects. And then we also wanted one which was already approved. I can’t remember what the terminology is, but I think some projects are pre-approved possibly. Is that the correct?
Yeah. So I think in your case, we were very comfortable with yourselves. We liked the fact it was a rural project, it had the approval, and it was ready Q1 to receive funds and to go live. And the Grand Park project seemed something sound and we’re comfortable to proceed on that basis. So it was a confluence of a few factors actually, somewhat sequentially, but our timeline was quite clear. So we sort of worked back a bit from that in helping our selection process.
So when you said you thought the Grand Park project was sound, tell me a little more about that. What made it sound in your opinion and how did that kind of compare to some of the other projects that you considered that were—
I mean, a variety of projects that we saw—I guess we were looking for track record. So project or that maybe there’d been other similar projects. So track record was something which was important to you. I can’t remember the precise details of Grand Park. Sorry, I can’t delve into great detail on that. That was probably earlier this year, but it seemed to be a solid project. We looked for red flags, didn’t really see any, and were comfortable to go ahead. So yeah, it wasn’t something that we were… It was something we were fairly comfortable fairly quickly with.
You mentioned earlier that the team was also a good fit for what you were looking for. Tell me a little bit kind of about that. What made our team differ or your interactions differ from the interactions that you had with several of the other operators? What kind of made you feel more comfortable that, "Okay, this is going to be okay here"?
I guess the first instance, responsiveness. So we did reach out to that handful of regional centers. I mean, most did respond almost immediately, some did not. You responded quickly. We had a few engaging calls with Jordan. He seemed sincere and forthcoming, and we felt comfortable dealing with him and your regional center.
Advice for Other EB-5 Investors
So at this point, what advice would you have for other families considering going through the EB-5 process? What would you say, okay, you really got to look out for this, consider that, just kind of things that you gleaned through the experience that you think you weren't really aware of at the beginning?
Yeah, no, it’s been a steep learning curve. I mean, probably a year ago we kind of knew nothing. So now we know quite a lot, but not everything. I’m confident it was the right thing for us, albeit we don’t have the approval yet, but hopefully in the next few months we will have. So yeah, number one, I think you’ve got to get a good lawyer. I also know other people who’ve gone down this process, and that is something they have shared too—their lawyer, who was not Fragomen, may not have been as responsive. So anyway, good lawyers is critical. And I think that they should set out very precisely at the outset, maybe with a flow chart, exactly what the steps are going to be and exactly what information is required. And in particular, plan out what the source of funds is going to look like such that the applicant, in my case, or myself who had to provide the source of funds, was able to gather such information in an efficient manner rather than drip feeding information through.
So the greatest advice is good lawyer and quickly, and maybe in selecting the lawyer, get them to talk through to you, talk you through the process itself almost line by line and what information is required. I mean, when we talked about source of funds, I really thought that would be straightforward, but it wasn’t as straightforward as I’d hoped, but we got there in the end. And then I suppose if you’ve got the right lawyer, then they can guide you in the direction of regional centers. You can do your own due diligence, reaching out to them, find a regional center where you’re comfortable with the people who you’re interfacing with, comfortable with their track record, comfortable with the projects that they have, and that journey will get you to where you want to get to hopefully. We’ve had a pretty good experience, I would say. So we’re very happy we did it and absolutely no regrets.
Other than just giving you a few regional center names, were the lawyers at all helpful in evaluating?
No, no. I think they perhaps understandably wanted to distance themselves from any form of advice or recommendation around that. I suppose if it all goes wrong, they didn’t want to be somebody who had hinted or made any recommendations in that regard. So no, I mean, they provided the contacts, which we definitely didn’t have and wouldn’t know where to start. So that was material and helpful, but that was about it.
Did you consider other regional centers that weren't ones that they gave you or you just kind of said everything—
No, no, no, no. I mean, it’s a bit of a lottery really. You can do a search online and a whole host of names come up, right? It’s everybody suggesting they’re the best and most capable. So as a layperson, it’s a bit daunting, frankly. So we did derive great value and comfort from the short list of names given. So that to me was good enough. If they’d only given me one name, then maybe I would’ve had to look elsewhere, but I did have a small handful of names. We did speak to that small handful, so we did reasonable due diligence, I feel.
On the diligence piece, I mean, other than responsiveness, how did kind of financial security and just transparency—in terms of financial statements, records, and willingness to provide information, get documents—how did those things kind of factor into your decisions?
Yeah, I suppose when we spoke to Jordan, there was probably a handful of projects in the pipeline, so we kind of flicked through those. I think we received maybe a high level deck on a few of them. We kind of looked through them. Some we were more enthusiastic, some less enthusiastic. We were looking for a project that we felt didn’t have too much risk, albeit that’s quite subjective. And then as I said, we were on a specific timeline. We were looking for rural. And so the project almost kind of chose itself because of the criteria we had.
Then of course, once we got the offering document, which of course is 200 page of legal language, right—which demands you’re not getting a change—we did review that and it seemed sound. And questions we had following our review of that document were well-answered and sincerely answered. So it is an at-risk investment, right, but we were comfortable and your responsiveness and sincerity was well-received.
So having just kind of gone through the process pending approval for a couple months now, would you recommend your attorney and EB5AN to other families considering doing EB-5?
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I mean, my recommendation will be much more wholehearted once I’ve got approval, but I’m expecting approval. But I mean, yeah, thus far we’re all good. We’ve had a good experience, and I’m hopeful that we will get the in-principle travel and work authorization in the next few months. But that’s what we’re after as you… Our children can’t travel at the moment. And that’s fine, we knew that, but we’d like to get the travel and work authorization as soon as possible.
But no, thus far all good, no complaints. And we’re hopeful and confident we’ll have the in-principle approval in the not too distant future.
I assume that—for them as well—you’re doing this every day. So you’re dealing with people like us every day, whereas we only do it once. So with the experience that you have of dealing with it every day, you should be able to hone the process so that it is super user-friendly. The applicant is the one that’s new to it. So you really need a handholding service to guide the applicant along.
On that point, in terms of the paperwork on our side, joining the project, sending money, all of that, tell me a little bit about how you felt that went.
Yeah, that was pretty efficient. I remember we sent the $10 first before we sent the $800,000 or something to make sure there wasn’t sending money to the wrong account. I mean, small little thing, but it shows prudence. Actually, that bit was all pretty smooth actually. We were a bit worried about transferring quite large sums of money around with, excuse me, banks sometimes not receiving it or wondering—particularly when young people, like my child moving such large sums of money around—whether there would be any friction with the process. But it wasn’t touch wood. It all went on plan and no hiccup, no delay, no missing funds. But as I said, I remember that you guys recommended we just send the $10 first, make sure you receive that before we send the balance. But yeah, the process was smooth. Once we’d selected, I have no issues at all with that.
I guess one other follow-up on that. I'm sure you've seen there's a deadline coming up in September in the next month or so. So from your perspective, once you had all of your funds ready and your immigration attorney told you, "All right, we're fully done with source of funds, you're ready to finalize, just decide what project,"—in your case, once you got to that point—okay, source of funds done—how quickly was it for you to sign the papers for Grand Park, transfer the funds, and get everything filed? How long was the process?
I feel it was a matter of weeks, and I kind of feel it was like two or three weeks. It was fast. I mean, we knew what we wanted once we’d selected. We got clear guidance from you what was required, when it was required, and we were able to action that. The documentation was signed. It was smooth. I mean, we’re quite decisive, right? I guess some people might ask you 10,000 questions. I’m not that kind of person, right? We’d done our due diligence, we’d selected our project, we transferred the money, and your side was efficient in terms of receiving it, letting us know. Now we received periodic updates. The friction was with the source of funds. From the time we started, possibly that source of funds thing took at least three months, possibly slightly longer. And I thought I was a simple case.
Yeah, it always takes way longer than you think ... no matter what. No one's ever said, "Yeah, it was quicker than I thought," or it was... Never.
And I was thinking to myself, “Well, crikey, if I had to get my documents translated for stock, how that would’ve hindered things.” And then, as I said, mine was all in English. I had a pretty clear banking history and employment history with lots of documents. So yeah, it just took longer. And I think the process could be improved. Relating back to my point on kind of spoonfeeding the applicant on what source of funds and exactly talking it through first before you start drip feeding information through.
It was a very precise game plan. It’s almost like interviewing the applicant, talking it through, getting a better understanding, and then thinking what is the best way to do this. As I said, that might be feedback for Fragomen once the application is approved. But yeah, it could be improved. It wasn’t a disaster, but it was quite painful.
