Understanding “Matter of Ho”…

If there was a Hollywood Walk of Fame for people who are gifted with the ability to explain cryptic USCIS memoranda to those of us left scratching our heads, Suzanne Lazicki would get the first star.  I don't know Ms. Lazicki personally but I've been reading her brilliant blog, LucidText, for awhile...

Jose E. Latour Jul 27, 2013

Where It All Started: Individual EB-5 Via Smart U.S. Investment

Folks, as the USCIS continues to sit on thousands of long-delayed I-526 EB-5 investor petitions, a Chinese riptide of exasperated investors and agents is threatening the foundations of dozens of U.S. projects relying on EB-5 capital as part of their capital stack. As this is happening, more and more...

Jose E. Latour Jun 29, 2013

The End of the Innocence: INTERPOL Complicity in Political Persecution

In my most recent two decades of law practice, I have dealt primarily with high net worth individuals who are living in unstable places in the Middle East, Far East, Latin America, and former Soviet states.  And as I have so often written in Immigration Insider, while the opportunity to secure U.S. ...

Jose E. Latour Jun 16, 2013

An Apology to CBP For Yesterday’s Blog Title

I've received two phone calls this morning from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  The first was from an old CBP friend who was incredulous over the events of this past weekend, which I relayed in yesterday's Immigration Insider as "My Weekend on the U.S. Border: CBP or KGB?"  The second call, in ...

Jose E. Latour Jun 12, 2013

My Weekend on the US Border: CBP Gone Awry

This past weekend, as I have so many dozen times before, I entered the US with a group of  Mexican nationals with valid U.S. B1/B2 visas for the purpose of exploring various EB-5 Regional Centers in Southern Texas.  As always, I explained that the prospective investors all needed I-94s as we would b...

Jose E. Latour Jun 11, 2013

Michael Harris’ Great Article on Obtaining EB-5 Regional Center Status

Michael Harris, my friend, longtime collaborator, and former Padawan has written a comprehensive article on the pros and cons of establishing or acquiring an EB-5 Regional Center...MUST reading for all you developers out there being seduced by the sweet siren song of U.S. immigration attorneys promi...

Jose E. Latour Jun 05, 2013

St. Kitt’s Passport Investment Program: Park Hyatt Groundbreaking!

Harvey Law Group (HLG) founder Jean-Francois Harvey and I will be joining the team from Dubai-based Range Development in beautiful St. Kitts next week to celebrate the groundbreaking of Range's spectacular Park Hyatt St. Kitt's in stunning Christophe Harbour.  HLG is the exclusive agent in China and...

Jose E. Latour May 27, 2013

Wealthy Asians: PLEASE Read This Before Entering the US as an EB-5 Conditional Resident

Between the greedy US developers, the greedy US lawyers out to make a quick I-526 buck and the greedy Asian migration agents, affluent folks from all over the Far East are being led down the primrose lane to US tax poverty.  Today is Tuesday and in two business days this week, I have personally spok...

Jose E. Latour May 21, 2013

BTW, That Really Cool Building in the Background…

...is the Bitexco Financial Tower in steamy, sultry, lemongrass-y Ho Chih Minh City (a/k/a Saigon), location of my favorite flavor of Harvey Law Group's international offices. (-:…

Jose E. Latour May 21, 2013

EB-5 Primer: Understanding the Tax Consequences of U.S. Residency

The accents are for the most part different these days, but the issues are the same: wealthy entrepreneurs from troubled nations writing and calling me as they scramble to relocate their hard–earned assets before corrupt politicians steal what is not theirs.  Twenty years ago the financial exodus wa...

Jose E. Latour Apr 22, 2013