Sharon Xu lived in Beijing for many years , working as the Finance Manager in an American commerce company while raising her two sons together with her husband . Life was prosperous and joyous . However , every year in the winter , her two sons would always get sick with the flu as well as respiratory inflammations , which when serious enough , would send them to the hospital . The health of her children worried Xu .
“ I was so tired of going back and forth between the office and clinic , so I started to look for a place to relocate my family ,” she said .
vacation . But it turned out to be relatively easy for Chinese elementary school students to adapt to the English language and the American culture .
Xu was unemployed in United States , but instead participated in charity and community events , which broadened her life . She also encouraged her children to venture outside of school to get to know the American culture .
“ My circle of friends has increased since I moved to the United States due to all the volunteering ,” she said .
Considering her husband ’ s career development , the Xu family in 2007 decided it would be best for Xu to take the two sons and apply for the EB-5 immigrant investor visa and move to the United States while her husband stayed in China . Upon hearing suggestions by the immigration agent about investment projects , Xu set her heart on the Philadelphia Expo Center expansion plan managed by CanAm . She believed that public construction projects were very dependable , which might also be why the other 243 immigrant investor applicants joined the project . In 2009 , she received her temporary green card and was able to move .
In total , they injected $ 122 million into the Philadelphia Expo Center , not only creating 3,000 jobs , but also giving the center a new look . All of the investors and their families have already received their permanent green cards and after the maturity of their five-year contracts in 2014 , they received their $ 500,000 repayment . Xu happily states that , in the beginning when she filed to be an immigrant investor , she understood that this investment capital carried a risk . After having prepared mentally to accept the risk , she did not expect to be repaid .
After immigrating to Southern California , Xu started volunteering at her sons ’ elementary schools . Every year during the Chinese New Year , she would hold an introduction session about Chinese culture for the whole school and also helped at bake sales and PTA fundraising events . Due to the increased volume of new immigrants coming from China , Xu , and a few of her good friends , organized an inter-school Chinese PTA to help new immigrant families understand the American educational system .
Before coming to the United States , Xu heard the American elementary and middle school load was relatively light . However , in good school districts , which have a high ratio of East Asian heritage students , the study load seemed to be the same as in China , she said .
Her sons started out taking English as Second Language classes . In order to quickly enter the normal track of classes , they completed optional courses during winter
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