Jeff DeCicco, CEO of CanAm Investor Services, provides CanAm’s insights on EB-5 capital redeployment strategies
CanAm Enterprises (“CanAm”) is pleased to announce that Jeff DeCicco, the CEO of its broker dealer, CanAm Investor Services, discussed investment redeployment requirements of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program with industry-leading immigration experts at the 2019 EB-5 & Uglobal Immigration Expo Dubai.
During the discussion, Mr. DeCicco outlined CanAm’s strategic, investor-focused approach to redeployment within the policy framework outlined by USCIS in its written and public statements.
“Consistent with CanAm’s business philosophy over the past 30+ years, our approach to redeployment is very conservative – our highest priority is to redeploy investors’ funds in such manner that the investment meets the programmatic and USCIS’ policy requirements while offering the lowest possible risk to our investors,” said Mr. DeCicco.
As clarified by USCIS’ policy, an investor must maintain his or her EB-5 investment during his or her “sustainment period” which is the 2-year period of the investor’s conditional residence. For investors impacted by retrogression or other delays in obtaining conditional residence, at the time of loan repayment, USCIS requires them to further redeploy their capital within a “commercially reasonable time” into some at-risk investment in a manner which is consistent with the new commercial enterprise’s ongoing business operations. Within the EB-5 industry, there has been significant debate as to what type of investment redeployment is necessary, especially for investors who want flexibility in being returned their capital once their 2 years of conditional residence has been completed.
Importantly, USCIS does not require that the redeployed investment involve the same degree of risk as the original job-creating enterprise contemplated in the investor’s I-526 petition to be deemed sufficiently “at-risk” for the sustainment period. Therefore, CanAm aims to redeploy investment funds in the safest possible alternative provided under USCIS policy. CanAm reasons that if the initial EB-5 project investment has created all the jobs required for the I-829 Petition, then the objective of any redeployment vehicle should be capital preservation for the duration of the time before the capital can be repaid to the investor.
CanAm has been evaluating the viability of several redeployment vehicles and reinvestment options that are USCIS-compliant – including new issue municipal bonds – which CanAm believes protect investors’ capital as much as possible and are sufficiently liquid to be able to repay CanAm’s investors on an ongoing basis after the expiration of their sustainment periods.
The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program is administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The Program provides qualified foreign investors with the opportunity to earn “conditional” or temporary two-year visas in return for investing $500,000 in businesses located in high unemployment areas that create or retain at least ten permanent full-time jobs for U.S. workers.
CanAm Enterprises, with over three decades of experience promoting immigration-linked investments in the US and Canada, has a demonstrated track record of success. With over 60 financed projects and $3 billion in raised EB-5 investments, CanAm has earned a reputation for credibility and trust. To date, CanAm has repaid more than $2.26 billion in EB-5 capital from over 4,530 families. CanAm manages several USCIS-designated regional centers that stretch across multiple states. For more information, please visit www.canamenterprises.com.