Anoop from India

Yeah, sure. Hey, Sam. Yeah, thanks for having me. So this is Anoop. Yeah, I’m from India. I’ve worked in the southern part of India, Bangalore, for eight to 10 years before I moved to the U.S. in late 2015. It was December of 2015 to be exact. So I came to the U.S. on an L-1B visa. It was an intra-company transfer. So I was working for the same company back in India, and I got transferred to the California-San Jose office here. I came on L-1B. My wife and dependents were on L-2 visas.

So things started okay. Both of us had our work permits. I had an India-born kid, so he was two years old when we came here. So beginning, we were not fully aware of all the Green Card process and the backlog involved with all of it, because when we came in, we thought it was just a four- to five-year wait time. Because at that point in time, the priority dates were like 2011 or probably even 2009 or 2010. So we thought it’s just wait for four to five years and we should get our Green Card and move on to citizenship and all those things. But slowly, we started understanding the backlogs involved with the EB-2 process. So it was a journey to get to here. But the moment we landed here till now, this immigration and maintaining the status, it has been a big part of our life here.

So as I said, I started with L-1B, and then it took a few years for me to even move to H-1B because there is a lottery process. So it took at least three years for me to get to H-1B and even to get my permanent I-140 approved. So from 2018, I moved on to my H-1B plus EB-2 priority category. I’m on the waiting list of the EB-2 priority from 2018.

So as you would know, things started moving up a bit during the COVID time, and dates are moving and progressing. So we were all pretty hopeful during that time, but things started regressing, and dates moved back to 2011 and 2012 after that. So then we started thinking about other options on how to proceed and how to have a permanent residency option here in the U.S.

So I had explored even other options like EB-1 for some time, but for the kind of profile I had, it didn’t really fit in, or I felt I had to put in at least one to three years to prepare my profile for EB-1. That’s when I started thinking about EB-5 assets actually. So I had heard about EB-5, but I always felt that it was me maintaining an investment and the job requirement and all those things. I’d never really understood about these regional centers and how seamless it is during that point in time. And really late in 2024 is when I started investing time to understand the whole EB-5 process and understood how regional centers work and how it provides a very seamless way to invest and track the process.

So yeah, I think late 2024 is when I started working out the EB-5 projects, and I started reaching out to multiple regional centers, including yours. And then partly I also started looking up immigration attorneys who work on the same EB-5. I am from Bay Area, California, so I reached out to a few local immigration attorneys, as well as who work from outside of California too. So that’s how it started.

And specifically about the immigration attorneys, roughly how many different attorneys did you interview, and which attorney did you end up ultimately hiring and why?

So I talked to at least three to four attorneys, mostly locally here in Bay Area, California. But what I found was most of them were general immigration attorneys who were handling all different type of cases, like your H-1Bs or other company-sponsored ones or EB-1A kind of stuff. But I wanted someone who was specifically concentrating on EB-5, who can understand the ins and outs of the EB-5 process and has been doing this for a longer time. So that’s how I ended up with Anahita, Anahita George.

I think I got introduced from one of your testimonials or your website contents, and I reached out to Anahita. And we had a conversation about her experience in the field, and we talked about my requirements. It was an instant connect, and then I signed up pretty immediately after that with her.

So, with Anahita, she was very responsive. So that was another thing which I was looking for in immigration attorneys. So I went in with all the knowledge I could get from your website or other documentation which was available on EB-5 groups, but I never had a firsthand experience about EB-5 projects. So really Anahita was the first contact who could personally have some history there and give some references and inside details about the whole process. So we spent a lot of time talking about the timelines because that was important to me. Because I’ve already spent 10 years in the waiting list, so I wanted to make sure that I’m not getting into another backlog as much as possible.

So we talked about various project options and to see which path will make sure that there is a chance of backlog to the minimum. And then we looked at various projects. Honestly, even though I got Anahita’s contact from EB5AN, we discussed about various other projects throughout the country to see which one fits best for me. I think those conversations probably took one or two weeks.

With respect to the source of funds, that was probably straightforward for me because all the funds came from my U.S. equity here—my company-invested RSUs, the sale of company-invested RSUs. So showing the proof of that was pretty straightforward because we had all the statements from the banking client. So we didn’t have much trouble collecting all the proofs for it. But Anahita spent a lot of time going through all the transactions and adding up everything and providing a nice summary at the end of it. So yeah, she and her team did a pretty good job in summarizing everything. But I would say probably three to four weeks we were done with everything, all the documentation required for source of funds.

The only hiccups we had was about our birth certificates and marriage certificates. So some of the wordings and the certificates were not aligned with USCIS requirements, so we had to go back and get the corrected certificates. So other than that, the whole document collection process went smoothly, and once we finalized the project, I think we could file it within three to four weeks.

Sure. So I think most of the testing is I’d say the same thing. The amount of content and information available in your website, I think that was really good. I did a lot of study—not just about the project, about the whole EB-5 visa categories and the whole process timeline. I think your website provided a lot of information which really helped educate myself on it.

But compared to that, other regional centers just had maybe a few lines about the project and not much information about the whole process and timelines and everything. So to start off, the website content and details and specifics about projects and construction updates about projects, that was really helpful. I never saw those kind of monthly updates or quarterly project status reports directly available to everyone on the website. So that was a clear difference between EB5AN and other groups.

And the other difference I found was the range of projects available itself. So some of the other regional centers which I talked to had probably one project or two projects, which would start probably two months out to three months out—pretty early stage. So they never had multiple projects ongoing at the same time in the various segments of rural versus urban. So I think EB5AN was the only group which I found had a lot of options at the same time, and we could just choose and pick one based upon our liking. So that’s one difference which I found.

Sure. So as I’ve mentioned, my top criteria was to get into a path which had the largest amount of visa set-aside. So from the get-go, I wanted to go with rural, nothing else. So I was sure about that. I wanted a rural project. And then it was about the viability of the project and then getting the money back versus the job requirement kind of stuff.

So when I was looking at EB5AN … So this was late 2024. I think we had two or three projects which were fitting the same bill, like rural projects. I think I talked about Twin Lakes and Rocky River at the same time with your firm and the timing. What mattered more for me was when I was considering Twin Lakes, I felt I was pretty late with respect to the project timeline, and if I had invested there, maybe it’d take a couple of years to really start using my funds. And EB5AN was pretty open about it. I was talking to Jordan from your team, and he had mentioned it’s already oversubscribed, and it was nice of him to explain how the smooth transfer of the fund works and when would your position come in the front for the job requirements. So it was clear to me that it would take at least one to two years before I can claim any of the jobs created for the project.

So that way, Rocky River looked really attractive to me because it was pretty early stage. So when I signed on, I might have been the very first 10 or even the very first five investors for the Rocky River. So the stage of the project was really interesting.

It came with its own risk too, because when I transferred the money, the land deal still was not closed. So we waited till the land closure in November 2024, and after that, I submitted our application, 526 application.

So yeah, those two were the requirements. I wanted something rural, and I wanted something where I was sure that my funds will be utilized immediately and I can claim the jobs. I don’t want to wait for another two years and, at the end of the two years, my funds will be moved. I understand the AP and EAD and all those things can come early, but I wanted the most surety as possible. I didn’t want to get into another wait time of two years and three years and things changing at the end of it.

Yeah. I looked at some of the resorts and hotels and all those things. So those business models at least I’m not privy to. I don’t understand all the details. But the housing market is something which at least I have some experience investing here in the U.S. or back in India. So I know at least the project kickstart and the timeline for it. So that’s the only project which I can at least understand the business proposal or the business plans to begin with. So I always had my liking toward the single-family homes and these housing projects compared to a resort or a ski resort at a hotel kind of stuff. So I had my preference there.

And then coming to Kolter, within your projects or even outside, they had that good track record with respect to completing the projects, especially EB-5 projects. So when I looked, they had at least six to 10 completed projects, so that was a big plus, especially EB-5 projects itself. And then I went and looked at all the existing projects and previously completed projects from Kolter and their leadership team, and it all looked very promising to me compared to other projects. Some of the projects which I looked, even outside of EB-5, they have been going on with the construction for a few years, and when they run out of funds, they go to the EB-5 route to raise additional funds kind of stuff. So with Kolter, that never happened. It was always very financially well-positioned loans. So I felt Kolter was financially more stable too, and I felt Kolter will be able to successfully finish it and hand over the loan amount under the prescribed timeframe.

So yeah, I think Kolter as a builder and single-family homes from a project perspective, I think those two kind of helped me to decide on Rocky River. And obviously, Twin Lakes, the success of Twin Lakes was already there. All the data were there from the Twin Lakes. That also helped me, because it was pretty comparable to Twin Lakes. Everything looked almost similar to Twin Lakes. I talked to a few who had invested in Twin Lakes. So yeah, it looked straightforward to me to jump into Rocky River at that point in time.

So as I said, even at the time of my application, everything was current. All the different categories and the set-aside was current. But I was looking at the numbers published by various groups on this EB-5 data, especially this FOIA request and all those things, and everything kind of mentioned that urban numbers were twice the pending request. The pending applications for the urban were twice compared to the rural one, even though rural had 20% set-aside. And everyone was expecting urban to get into a backlog situation pretty soon. So within a year or so, they were expecting urban to get into a backlog situation, especially for India and China. So that was one thing which pushed me to say, “Okay, rural and nothing else,” because that had 20% set-aside. Yeah, I think that alone drove the decision to rural projects.

Yeah, sure. So I worked exclusively with Jordan on this, and we had multiple meetings set up to go over not just Rocky River. I think we talked about Rocky River, Twin Lakes, and other projects too. I think Tamarack—I’m not sure. So yeah, we set up multiple sessions, and we talked over all these different projects and at what stage of each project it is. So those things happened before we decided on Rocky River.

And once we decided Rocky River is going to be the project, I think he set up with his team. And the subscription packets and everything was made available to me, and I could go over it and I could review it with the attorney. Everything went pretty smooth from that point in time. The subscription packet signing and all happened probably within few days, and everything was made available to my attorney also same day or maybe the next day. And the escrow account set up, fund transfers. Even the escrow company, I had it as a contact, and I could track all the money transfers and everything, and I got receipts within two days.

So I think the moment I decided to invest the money to finishing all the subscription package and transfer of money probably happened within one week to 10 days. It was very fast, and it was very smooth. I don’t think I had any kind of concerns or anything, any issues there.

Only thing I would say is probably, I think … When I signed on, we were told that there would be some kind of a project tracking stuff, probably something or Juniper Square or something where investors could track the construction updates and progress and the fund transfers and all these things. So I’m looking forward to it. I know your team is working on it. So once you have that, I think probably I’m hoping I’ll have a seamless experience of seeing how the fund is looking and how much has been transferred and the jobs created and all those things. Right now, we are getting this quarterly report, which is good, but I hope things will be better with this investor portal which had been promised.

Definitely. So first of all with my attorney, my experience with Anahita has been really good. Even after we’ve filed everything, I’ve been in constant contact with her. We had a couple of notices coming pretty soon from USCIS for which we had to respond. Some of the forms were falsely rejected in the first attempt, and she had to correct. And it’s not a mistake from our side—it was an issue from USCIS. And all the responses were handled pretty promptly by Anahita. And even now, any requests I have, she always comes back pretty soon, within the same day or next day. So the response from her and her continued support has been really good till now. So I would always recommend Anahita for any investors. Especially her doing the application process, her effort in documenting everything, showing the source of funds. For me at least, it was not that complex. I didn’t have to move anything from India or outside of the U.S., but I heard other testimonials about people moving funds from India and she doing a great job recording everything. So I would truth that. So yeah, Anahita, I recommend her.

And with respect to EB5AN itself, the support from your group, especially Jordan, has been really wonderful—and the rest of the team too. Any questions I had about any project updates, about construction updates … As I said, when I signed on, the land deal itself was not closed. The 956 was not approved. So I jumped in pretty early. So getting to the 956 approval … Yeah, I had to wait at least a month after I put in the money to see the 956 approval. So during all that time, they were always there to help out with the general timeline of all these things and how much time it takes. Yeah, they were really there always to help out with any clarification on the process or the timeline. Yeah, I would any day recommend your group and your team, especially Jordan.

Yeah. Thanks, Sam. Thanks for the time.