Wilson Ye, a 20-year-old sophomore at the University of California Los Angeles and
an EB-5 immigrant investor, is on a mission to make a change for EB-5 investors.
By EB5 Investors Magazine Staff
W
ilson Ye has conducted a survey of more than
800 EB-5 investors and their family members to
give the immigrant investor applicants in America a
voice in Congress. The statistics student, who is still
waiting for the green light after investing $500,000 in the
Pennsylvania highway construction project, plans to use
his survey to influence policy makers to hopefully speed
up the waiting time and process of the EB-5 immigrant
investor program.
“I want to represent investors because I think Congress
should consider investors’ concerns because of
humanitarian reasons,” he said.
Ye, who was born in Dalian and went to junior high in
Shanghai, hopes that his report
brings valuable info about the
changing demographics of EB-5
immigrant investors. And although
they do not have the same right
as U.S. citizens to vote, he hopes
the members of Congress would
listen since the report represents
EB-5 applicants who have invested
more than $500 million and
created 10,000 plus new jobs in
the United States, he said.
than the allotted visa quota for immigrant investors,
Wilson became one of the tens of thousands of Chinese
investors who had to wait in line to receive a conditional
green card. Currently, he is still waiting and live in
California under an F-1 student visa.
ADJUSTING TO A NEW CULTURE
Since childhood, Ye has traveled to many places with
his family to broaden his experiences. In 2011, he went
to California as an high school exchange student and
was confronted with a new language and learning
environment. He caught on to the English language
relatively quickly and performed well in school. One of his
scientific research received recognition
from a professor of Carnegie Mellon
University who was preparing to invite
him to join the university’s research
team.
"...I think
Congress
should consider
investors'
concerns..."
At the beginning of the new academic year, Ye received
an invitation to join the UCLA student government and
became the first student representative to lobby for
international students of the university. In March, he went
to Washington, D.C. to meet with a few representatives
and then brought some of the concerns regarding
student EB-5 investors to the table.
YE’S JOURNEY TO A PERMANENT
GREEN CARD
“Just because I wasn’t a US resident, I
lost out on this opportunity,” said Ye.”
I wasn’t even able to continue on as a
unpaid research intern.”
Ye hopes he will be able to intern
and work for one of the leading companies when he
graduates college. He is part of the growing trend of
applicants who have arrived in the country under F-1
student visas while waiting for their EB-5 visa approval.
This is also confirmed by his survey results. He found
that more than half of EB-5 investor visa applicants or
their family members are students currently holding an
F-1 visas. They have high hopes in the EB-5 immigrant
investor visa, especially among students who do not
major in mathematics, science or engineering. For those
students, the EB-5 immigrant investor visa offers an
additional path to work legally in the United States after
graduation.
Ye, who has invested through the Delaware Valley
Regional Center, had his I-526 application approved by
USCIS in February of 2015 right before his high school
graduation. However, since the demand is much higher
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