TOP ECONOMISTS
DAVE EVANS
EVANS , CARROLL & ASSOCIATES
Dave Evans joined Evans ,
Carroll & Associates ( ECA ) in 2012 and has led its EB-5 economic impact practice since 2016 . The firm specializes in economic analyses for EB-5 programs and the development of custom econometric models for individual industries and companies . ECA has successfully submitted hundreds of EB-5 economic impact reports that have been approved by USCIS . Prior to joining ECA , Evans served as the chief scoring officer for Capital One Financial . He started his career in economic consulting , most notably at PriceWaterhouseCoopers . Evans received his degree in economics from Brown University in 1989 .
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE EB-5 REFORM AND INTEGRITY ACT OF 2022 ? modeling . For example , under RIA , only 90 % of jobs can be indirect or induced ; in our experience , this was almost always the case anyhow . On a positive note , tenant occupancy jobs can once again be included , provided the jobs are not existing jobs being relocated .
WHAT NEW TYPES OF PROJECTS AND TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY ?
The focus is on completion of existing projects and ensuring they adhere to the new regulations in the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act . There has been more interest recently in exploring projects located in rural areas , as projects in rural areas will now receive higher priority processing . Interestingly , areas that may seem rural do not always qualify as such – they have to be outside of a metropolitan statistical area ( MSA ) and not in a city or town with a population of 20,000 or more .
The Reform and Integrity Act was quite reasonable ; Ultimately , RIA should have relatively little impact on economic impact
ISMAEL FERNANDEZ
GREENGATE CONSULTING
Ismael Fernández , originally from Madrid , Spain , is the founder and president of Greengate Consulting , an Atlanta-based consultancy firm . A published author in the field of technology valuation with a PhD and MBA from Georgia Institute of Technology , Fernández extended his career into start-up consulting , as well as real estate planning and financing given his experience in financial and economic modeling and forecasting . Prior to funding Greengate , Fernández was a senior manager at GE Power . Since 2010 , he has assisted hundreds of clients getting established in the U . S . and is also the executive vice president of World Trade Center Atlanta .
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE EB-5 REFORM AND INTEGRITY ACT OF 2022 ?
The only thing I like about this bill is that it passed , and as a consequence we should have some stability for the next five years . The worst part is that everything is up in the air due to differences in interpretations of the law by the USCIS . Some portions of the bill are favorable , like concurrent filing of I-526 and I-485 to adjust the status in the U . S . Others were expected , like the TEA rules and higher investment amounts , but others caused some significant drawbacks to the program , like limiting the number of investors in an EB-5 direct offering to just one investor .
WHAT NEW TYPES OF PROJECTS AND TRENDS ARE YOU SEEING IN THE EB-5 INDUSTRY ?
It is hard to predict how efficient the EB-5 regional center market will be overall with the lack of guidance and significant uncertainty caused by the USCIS ’ interpretation of the new rules . The good news is that there are plenty of options within this realm . Many business opportunities can be exploited ; from franchise models to manufacturing , EB-5 direct projects can cover a lot of industries without giving up on economic return and seizing the potentially faster processing times caused by the existing chaos in the EB-5 regional center program .
80 EB5 INVESTORS MAGAZINE