Wailian Overseas Consulting Group, Ltd. one of China’s largest immigration consultants, has partnered with Juwai.com, China’s largest international property portal, to help more high-networth Chinese individuals who seek permanent residency in the US obtain EB-5 investor visas.
More than four out of five EB-5 visas obtained in 2014 went to Chinese applicants.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will exclusively work together on the marketing of real estate development projects that are approved for participation in the EB-5 program and vetted by Wailian.
The property portal will publish qualified EB-5 investment opportunities on Juwai.com and introduce them to its monthly audience of 2.6 million Chinese international property buyers, then introduce potential investors to Wailian.
Linda He, the president and CEO of Wailian, said, “This new affiliation will greatly benefit our clients – making it even easier for them to discover new EB-5 investment opportunities, because they will be featured on Juwai.com’s popular platform. “Many international property buyers are also interested in learning about immigration and visa laws.“The U.S. EB-5 visa program can be very attractive for potential investors, because it allows them to bring their spouses and children and is not tied to a job or employer.
Simon Henry, co-CEO of Juwai.com said, “We’re very excited to be able to introduce the consumers who use Juwai.com to China’s best immigration consulting group. “Wailian is a company we trust, and we are very comfortable introducing Wailing to our users. “Just over one third of our users tell us that they are interested in immigration, making it the second biggest driver for international property purchase, after pure investment goals.
“The EB-5 program is of great interest to high-net-worth individuals who would like to obtain a US green card. “China has the world’s second largest high-net-worth population and mints 40,000 new millionaires per year. Even if only a tiny percentage of those decide to immigrate, they can provide a large pool of capital to job-creating projects in the US.”
The EB-5 program is the “employment-based” US federal immigration program, designed to use investment capital from wealthy immigrants to create jobs for Americans. From 2011 to 2014, the program created at least 103,000 jobs, in 25 US states and territories.
Foreign nationals can acquire a permanent green card if they invest at least $500,000 in an approved program, and if that investment is demonstrated to create at least 10 jobs within two years. This is a proven path to US citizenship for those who desire it.
The U.S. Congress ratified the program in 1990. For real estate developers, it can be a less expensive source of financing than loans from traditional financial institutions, as foreign investors sometimes accept lower rates of return because their primary goal is to obtain a green card.
Recent beneficiaries of the EB-5 program include the $20 billion Hudson Yards project that the Related Cos. is building in Manhattan, two new waterfront Marriott hotels in greater Los Angeles and more than $600 million of projects in Philadelphia – including the city’s new Convention Center.
