Regional Centers across the country have been playing to the strengths of their communities when proposing projects. California Regional Centers are developing retail shopping centers. In the upper Northeast, ski resorts are seeking EB-5 investment funding. In New York City, hotels are a major draw and the Midwest’s lack of market penetration by Assisted Living and Memory Care centers has attracted the attention of Chicago Regional Center, Chicagoland Foreign Investment Group.
The popularity of EB-5 immigrant investor funding is growing. In the first three quarters of fiscal 2011, 2,608 petitions were filed. However, not all filed petitions were approved. Some Regional Centers are pitching the program to foreigners as a certain way to get a green card and are even promoting ‘risk-free’ investments. This is not the case. Some investors have seen deteriorating investments while others were even sent back to their home country because of their inability to prove the required number of created jobs.

EB-5 immigrant investors must take the necessary steps to educate themselves about the risks associated with the program. The purpose of the program is to create jobs and stimulate the local economy. If a project is not structured in a way that will achieve these goals, then the project, in regards to their obtaining their green cards, will ultimately fail and their application will not be approved.