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February 7, 2012
As EB-5 goes mainstream, association presents options to financial agencies; head of Vermont regional center says program crucial to state
Atlantic Yards Report
The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA), a national association of state, county and municipal agencies, on 1/17/12 sponsored a webcast introducing EB-5 investment immigration to its members.
The speakers were David Andersson, President, Association to Invest In USA, and James Candido, Director, Vermont EB-5 Regional Center.
Andersson noted that the trend these days among regional centers to cover several jurisdictions or even a full state, though the regional center he manages in northwest Washington, the Whatcom Opportunities Regional Center, covers just one county.
When the WORC was designated in 2006, he said, there were only about 14 regional centers. Now there are more than 208.
In fact, not until November 2010 did prospect regional centers have to actually pay a filing fee to achieve federal designations. At that point, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) introduced the I-924 form, which comes with a $6230 filing fee to get designated or to have a designation amended.
"There is a move afoot," Andersson said, to get USCIS to offer "pre-approval of projects," which, I might add, is what promoters of the Atlantic Yards project promised investors. "This preapproval has not yet been perfected."
Posted by eric at February 7, 2012 8:12 AM