“As permanent residents, graduating students are able
to compete for positions more free of immigration
concerns.”
ENVIRONMENT AND ACCESS TO THE
AMERICAN MARKET ALSO DRIVES
INDIA'S EB-5 TREND
India’s GDP is expected to grow 7.2 percent in 2017,
according to the IMF’s April 2017 World Economic
Outlook. “This results in India minting millionaires at
quite a rate,” Davies added. The money is there, and in
addition to post-graduation visas, Davies points to two
other factors that are driving Indian EB-5 cases: the
environment and access to the U.S. market.
“We have more than one client who has listed the awful
and growing pollution in India as one reason for moving
their family to the US,” he said. Indian businesses also
want to tap into the U.S. consumer market, still the
world’s largest by far.
“We represent a family who have just filed nine I-526
petitions,” Davies said. “The family is a powerful Indian
67
EB5 INVESTORS M AGAZINE
business family and is moving to the U.S. to expand
into multiple businesses that enable them to access
the U.S. market.” In previous years, many Indians start
out thinking they will file a direct EB-5 case, something
CanAm’s DeCicco attributes to the entrepreneurial spirit
in India. Today, that’s changed. “Most clients we speak to
decide not to invest in a direct EB-5,” Davies said, though
his firm does file multiple such cases each year.
Instead, they “invest in a (regional center) project that
offers what they perceive to be the lowest risk.” He
added: “Indians care about getting their green card and
then getting their money back. They absolutely care very
much about the ‘track history’ of a regional center and
want to see a regional center with a history or repaying
project, I-829 approvals and I-526 approvals.”
AWARENESS OF THE EB-5 PROGRAM
NEEDS TO INCREASE
The market is not without its challenges, though, such as
a lack of awareness of the EB-5 program. In India, EB-5 is
still a relatively new concept, Kapuria said, circa China in
2008-2009. He said regional centers are countering that
lack of awareness by spending more time in the country.