UGLOBAL . COM 15
BERNARD WOLFSDORF
WR Immigration
United States
IMPACT : How have you seen that the pandemic has impacted the global RCBI industry ? The Global Pandemic has created a massive surge in interest in second passports , both from Americans and others . One reason is the pandemic has created a new framework where people have been liberated from an office and can work from anywhere .
ADAPT : How did you adapt your business or ways of working due to COVID ? Do you think some of those changes are here to stay ? We are very fortunate to have developed a cloud-based Immigrant Management System , WRapid™ that is ideally suited to remote work . The employer and employee portals provide complete transparency to all as to progress , information , and the ability to upload documents in a secure environment that is GDPR compliant . These trends are efficient and will increase and are definitely here to stay .
TRENDS : What are some trends you are seeing in the global RCBI industry now ? There is a massive surge in interest especially for Grenada and Turkey since they are U . S . - treaty countries and thereby open the door to owning and running a business in the U . S .
LOCAL : How was your country ’ s local investment program impacted ? Did any regulations or criteria change in the program because of COVID ? We are based in the U . S ., where COVID has dramatically changed and restricted the issuance of visas and green cards .
FUTURE : Looking ahead , what do you anticipate happening this year and in the near future in this global industry ? We are already seeing a surge of demand for travel as people are seeking to get out of their homes and people have ironically become much more global and wanting to move because they have been confined in their homes so long . Book now and book early because prices are going up and bookings are already getting full .
JEAN-FRANÇOIS HARVEY
Harvey Law Group
Global
IMPACT : How have you seen that the pandemic has impacted the global RCBI industry ? For our firm , the impact was positive ; we witnessed an increase in business activities . As for the industry itself , we have seen an increase in new markets , while the activity in traditional ones like China was definitely lower .
ADAPT : How did you adapt your business or ways of working due to COVID ? Do you think some of those changes are here to stay ? Honestly , we had to expand our team to answer to the demands . While WHF was offered to all our employees around the world , the majority of our team decided to keep working from the offices as they did before .
LOCAL : How was your country ’ s local investment program impacted ? Did any regulations or criteria change in the program because of COVID ? Our firm has 22 offices around the world . While some offices were impacted , others have seen an increase — hence , it balanced itself . COVID did however create more flexibility from the different RCBI governmental department notably on the notarization of document .
FUTURE : Looking ahead , what do you anticipate happening this year and in the near future in this global industry ? This is hard to say , but now that the market is moving towards the West , this can only be good for HLG as a law firm . Countries like the USA have strict rules with respect to who can offer immigration services , being a lawyer is only playing field , hence , no complaints here .