Want a green card? Pay $1M for stake in Orlando-area condo hotel
By Sara K. Clarke, OrlandoSentinel.com
Condominium hotels were among the first real-estate investments to go sour as the housing market slumped and, later, the credit markets seized up. But Lake Buena Vista Resort Village & Spa is hoping the lure of permanent U.S. residency will eventually persuade well-heeled foreign investors to help it expand near Walt Disney World.
The condo-hotel resort received government approval several months ago to serve as a “regional center” for foreign investment. Under federal immigration policy, an approved foreigner whose investment is supposed to create 10 full-time jobs in the U.S. can get a conditional visa to live here — and can ultimately secure a regular “green card” good for permanent residency.
The Lake Buena Vista resort is one of only about 35 such centers for EB-5 visas in the country — and the first one not in a rural or high-unemployment setting.
Click link above for complete article.
USCIS Update: USCIS Changes Filing Location for EB-5 Related Items
WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that petitions and applications related to the Alien Entrepreneur (EB-5) immigrant classifications and Regional Center Proposals under the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Program must be filed at the California Service Center (CSC). A Federal Register notice announcing the change was published on Jan. 9, 2009.
Currently, EB-5 petitions and applications are filed at either the Texas Service Center (TSC) or the CSC, depending on where the alien’s commercial enterprise is located. Regional center proposals are currently submitted to the Chief of Service Center Operations at USCIS headquarters. This change in filing locations is necessary to improve the efficiency in the processing of EB-5 related filings.
USCIS has established a unit at the California Service Center comprised of specially-trained adjudicators dedicated to EB-5 adjudications. By consolidating adjudications at the center, USCIS believes that it will be able to reduce overall processing times and better monitor EB-5 related adjudications.
Filing changes are effective Jan. 26, 2009. For a 30-day period that began on Jan. 9 and ends Feb. 9, 2009, EB-5 related petitions and applications mailed to USCIS headquarters or the Texas Service Center will be forwarded to the California Service Center. After February 9, EB-5 petitions and applications received at an incorrect filing location will be rejected and returned with instructions to re-file at the correct address.
For direct mail, send to:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
California Service Center Attn: EB-5 Processing Unit
P.O. Box 10526
Laguna Niguel, CA 92607-0526
For non-U.S. Postal Service deliveries (e.g. private couriers), send to:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
California Service Center Attn: EB-5 Processing Unit
24000 Avila Road, 2nd Floor
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
Jim Douglas, Governor State of Vermont - Jay Peak Resort EB-5 Visa Program
Jim Douglas, Governor of Vermont speaks about the Jay Peak Resort EB-5 Visa Program
Translator
By N2H
