EB5INVESTORS. COM 7 ←
SPONSORED CONTENT
The Path Forward for EB-5: How JTC is Paving the Way for Long-Term Success
Jill Jones Head of Specialty Administration / General Counsel – USA
It’ s time for industry leaders to step up, and JTC has already begun. We’ re here to prepare for the future of the program, help the industry thrive, and push EB-5 to be better. Here are the challenges before us.
A Permanent Regional Center Program Every EB-5 stakeholder can benefit from the permanent reauthorization of the Regional Center Program. We saw what was lost when the last community iteration of the program was not renewed before its sunset date: investors lost opportunities, projects stalled, communities missed out on an infusion of capital and jobs, and many people lost confidence in the program.
We don’ t want that to happen again, but it will if we’ re not careful. We need a permanent program so we can think bigger and confidently invest in our businesses with the knowledge that we’ ll be able to pursue deals 5, 10, or 20 years from now. Investors need to be able to trust that the program will still be available so they can take their time to pick the right project and file their petitions without having the rug pulled out from under them.
Our country needs a permanent Regional Center Program. EB-5 does great things for America, and if it goes away, our nation loses. We need to make sure lawmakers know that. But there’ s no one who’ s going to do it for us – we need to get on the same page, develop the right messaging and strategy, and make promoting EB-5’ s successes a priority. The best endorsement for EB-5 is that we care enough to hold ourselves to a high standard.
Helping the Industry Thrive Helping the industry thrive is about more than finding new business opportunities, though we do hope you find those opportunities along the way. It’ s also about fixing the things holding us back. We must push USCIS for greater clarity and consistency so we can keep projects moving forward and investors on their path to permanent residency. These challenges require support from the entire industry, and the roadmap to success begins here. By listening to one another, we can learn how each of us can contribute to the common good.
Pushing for EB-5 to be Better In the past, EB-5 suffered from a tarnished reputation that threatened to derail a program full of well-meaning individuals crying out for better oversight. The Reform and Integrity Act( RIA) was the first meaningful step toward allowing the program to reach its true potential by holding everyone to the high standard some of us had been using all along.
At JTC we pride ourselves on innovation in EB-5. Our fund administration service included best practices like third-party disbursement verification and investor access to financial records long before they were mandated by the RIA. We continue to look toward the future, helping Regional Centers and NCE’ s comply with the RIA, prepare for USCIS audits, and offer greater transparency to their investors.
We don’ t just comply with the RIA for our own benefit – we’ re also auditioning for the future of EB-5. The more we push for best practices, the better EB-5 will look, and the more support we will enjoy from Congress and DHS. JTC is in a unique position because we work with so many different projects across the country. We know one size doesn’ t fit all, but we’ ve seen that there are certain formulas that have been proven successful time and again.
This is an exciting time, with unprecedented numbers of visas available to immigrant investors. The success of what’ s happening today will guide our future. JTC is pushing for a commitment to best practices across the industry and participation from those with the greatest influence to establish the leadership we need to achieve permanent reauthorization.
By working together, we can set a higher standard and move the industry in the right direction so EB-5 can thrive for years to come.