CanAm's Six Most Recent Projects Approved by USCIS, Some in Less than Six Months

It is CanAm's standard policy to seek pre-approval for all of its projects through the filing of an Exemplar I-526 Petition.

CanAm knows how much uncertainty there is in the EB-5 Program, both for the projects that depend upon EB-5 financing and for the immigrant investors waiting to learn whether their investments will make them eligible for conditional permanent resident status. For these reasons, CanAm's standard policy is to seek pre-approval for all of its projects through the filing of an Exemplar I-526 Petition, either as part of an initial designation application for a new regional center, or an amendment request for one of CanAm's seven (7) existing regional centers. CanAm diligently prepares and submits Exemplar I-526 Petitions for its projects so that the businesses relying on EB-5 financing and the investors contributing such capital can receive assurance as soon as possible that USCIS has deemed credible and reasonable the underlying project business plan and job-creation methodology, and therefore is likely to defer to its favorable determinations when adjudicating the investors' related individual I-526 petitions.

"The opportunity to obtain USCIS pre-approval of a project provides a great deal of assurance and predictability to both our projects and our investors," said Tom Rosenfeld, CanAm's President and CEO. "For those of us who lived through the multiple Requests for Evidence and adjudicative misunderstandings of 2010-2012, the current ability to rely on project pre-approval to accord deference to our investors' individual petitions – I cannot overstate how important a change that has been to the EB-5 Program."

Walter S. Gindin, CanAm's in-house immigration counsel, adds, "We strive to make sure that each submission to USCIS seeking pre-approval of a new project addresses any possible concerns that USCIS may have. And this can be challenging as USCIS constantly raises the bar for what it requires. As such, we work closely with each project during our due diligence process to make certain that all the project-related information necessary to obtain approval of the Exemplar I-526 Petition Business Plan, Economic Impact Analysis, and supporting documentation is included in our Exemplar filings, so as to preempt any follow-up by USCIS in a Request for Evidence or Clarification. I think our track record over the past several projects attests to that."

Indeed, USCIS has approved the Exemplar I-526 Petitions for six of CanAm's most recent projects, with all but one approved in less than the current I-924 adjudication times and some in less than six months. The projects approved by USCIS include the development of a marine terminal in New York Harbor, the construction of four oceangoing tankers in Philadelphia, and the construction of a high-speed passenger rail service between Miami and Orlando in Florida.

"Being able to tell a prospective investor that a project has been pre-approved by USCIS is hugely meaningful," states Jeffrey DeCicco, the CEO of CanAm Investor Services, the FINRA-registered broker-dealer affiliated with CanAm. "These investors are making an incredibly important decision for their families. They know they can't control whether or not USCIS will approve a project. Being able to tell them they only have to worry about documenting their source of funds because the project has been pre-approved takes an enormous amount of worry off the table."

The six projects that have received Exemplar I-526 Petition approvals total more than $625 million in EB-5 investment. Several of these projects embody CanAm's focus on supporting public infrastructure initiatives, the development of which helps achieve the critical National and EB-5 Program-specific objectives of facilitating economic development and job-creation, and providing the amenities that enhance the quality of Americans' lives.

The most recently submitted of the six projects, a $300 million raise for the All Aboard Florida project that will develop a high-speed passenger rail service connecting Miami to Orlando, is currently being subscribed. Only one Exemplar I-526 Petition for a project in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is pending adjudication at USCIS, and notice from USCIS is expected any day now.

About CanAm Enterprises, LLC 
With more than 27 years of experience promoting immigration-linked investments in the United States and Canada, CanAm is the exclusive manager of seven USCIS-designated Regional Centers, including the PIDC Regional Center (in partnership with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.), Pennsylvania DCED Regional Center (in partnership with Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development), Los Angeles County Regional Center (in partnership with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation), Hawaii Regional Center (in corporate with Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism), the New York Metropolitan Regional Center, the North Country New York Regional Center and CanAm Florida Regional Center.

About the EB-5 Investor Program 
The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program (EB-5), administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), provides opportunities for qualified foreign nationals to achieve permanent legal residency in the U.S. through an investment in an USCIS-approved project that will generate at least ten full-time jobs in the United States.

http://www.benzinga.com/pressreleases/15/07/p5656157/canams-six-most-recent-projects-approved-by-uscis-some-in-less-than-six

Mentions

• North Country EB-5 Regional Center
• Tom Rosenfeld
• CanAm Enterprises, LLC
• Hawaii Regional Center
• Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) Regional Center
• Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Regional Center
• Los Angeles Regional Center California Film Commission
• New York Metropolitan Regional Center (NYMRC)
• CanAm Florida Regional Center (“CAFRC”)

States

• New York