Gurpreet from India

Sure. First of all, Sam, thank you for having me. I am from India, as you already said. I came to the United States first in 2009. I was here for about two to three years, and then due to some job changes, I went back to India. And then I came back in 2019, and since then, I’ve been here. By education, I’m an engineer. I’m in the pharmaceutical industry since very beginning, and that’s what I do here in Jersey as well.

And really, obviously, I’m on a work permit, and that has its own limitations, though this H-1B is a great, great option for somebody like me, but that comes with some restrictions, some limitations. For example, if you happen to lose your job due to any reason, you really have a limited number of days, and beyond that, if you cannot find a job, you really have to leave the country. And then, if you have to change the employer as well, you need to really make sure that you need to find an employer who is willing to transfer your visa or who is willing to go through that whole transfer process. So though it has advantages, as I said, it comes with its own limitation.

The other thing is I lost my father during COVID time, and due to all the travel restrictions, specifically for visa holders, I couldn’t even reach on time. So it was very clear for me and my wife, both of us, that if we have to stay in this country, we have to explore some options that gives us this path to permanent residency. That’s how we started looking for these options, and EB-5 was almost a no-brainer for us given all the advantages this particular path offers.

I obviously had this work visa, H-1B. I was on L-1 as well at some point of time. I had my 140 approved as well. But given the wait time, specifically for an Indian national, it was more than my lifetime, and we didn’t have that much patience. So other than these work visas—H-1B, L-1 and then EB-5—those are the options that we really explored, and we finally landed at EB-5.

Sure. So we spoke with I think almost three different firms, three different immigration attorneys, and we had one interaction with each of them. We went prepared with a lot of questions, and all of those conversations were really helpful because we learned something new. And we knew just after our very first round of interactions with three different firms, we knew whom we are going forward with.

And so we picked Dennis, Dennis Tristani. And really, the reasons were he answered all our questions really patiently. He clearly highlighted in the very beginning that this is possible. This is what you can do; this is what he can do and what he cannot do for us. So that whole transparent approach really worked for us. And we also listened through some of the other webinars available on net where his name came up a couple of times. So due to all those reasons, we decided to go with him, and so far, it went very well.

He and his team I know worked really hard to first understand the whole funding situation at our end. They put together a very succinct and simple-to-understand summary of how are we sourcing the funds, what is the situation in each of our accounts on so-and-so date. So in that one-pager, the moment you read that, somebody who has no clue about yourself, that person can easily get that. I think that worked really well.

We started working with Dennis sometime in June, and as I said, we ended up submitting the 526 in August. So it was about a two-month process for us from start to end.

My only advice for everybody out there who is looking for this kind of option is that don’t go with somebody who is famous in the field. Go with somebody who you are comfortable with—and that was our approach. When we first talked to Dennis, it was very clear, as I said. We were comfortable talking to him. He answered all our questions.

And of course, compare the options you have. There are multiple, plenty of options out there, and all of those are great, great attorneys, no doubt. And be prepared. When you have this kind of conversation, go with your ready set of questions which you want to ask so that you can learn something from that conversation. So that was my experience, Sam, really.

Yeah. I can’t even count. We spoke with a lot of different regional centers, at least one conversation. And obviously, we went with EB5AN, your regional center.

And I think the first and foremost thing for us, which clicked very well, was the focus on educating the investors themselves. Your website … And I did mention this last year as well I know. Your website has a lot of information, great information. So that focus on educating the investors, that really clicked. I did not find any other regional center with that kind of depth, that kind of information. So that was really important, and that worked very well. All the testimonials, like this conversation that we are having—we went through a lot of other testimonials that were there in your website back then, and that worked well. That was super helpful.

I think the other piece is all the regional centers we spoke with, we had a conversation with one of an employee, but here I’m talking to you now. You are one of the partners in the company. And the response rate, kudos to you—whether it’s weekend or weekdays, I think we got a response to all the questions pretty quickly. So that worked very well.

And of course, it was a combination of various factors. The regional center being one, that’s the first place where we interact with people, and that experience went very well. Then came in the project itself, so Twin Lakes, Kolter. All those factors really worked very well for us, and it clicked well, and we decided to move forward.

If I speak about the project as well, Twin Lakes. I invested in fund four, which I understand is the last fund for this particular project. So before me, there were 350 other investors already, and that itself is a big deal. 350 people believed in the project, and therefore, they invested in it. That was a great motivating factor for me at least.

And then of course, this whole Cresswind brand, the Kolter brand. I went through a lot of testimonials back then as well. And I generally searched on the websites, internet as well. In general, I thought the reputation Kolter has is pretty clean, pretty decent. They have the history of returning whatever money they borrowed from the investors. Projects seem to be doing pretty good as well, and I’m somebody who monitors that very closely. And I think as per the latest stats, Twin Lakes has sold more than 700 homes out of the 1,300 that they originally planned. So it looks like it’s going in the right direction.

And enough jobs have already been created. And in fact, for the fund four, my understanding is that about for the first 30-odd investors or 30 to 40, I think the jobs are already there, which is a good thing, because 526 is one of the two main milestones. The second milestone is to remove that condition. So this itself was a great motivating factor, that a lot of jobs have been created. And even for the ongoing fund, you are moving pretty quickly towards creating jobs for all the 100 investors.

And the fact that it’s a rural project, that was also obviously an important criteria. It’s the key reason why we got approved in the timeframe we got approved in.

I haven’t really visited the project, but I did get a chance to view a lot of videos. I did speak to a few of my colleagues, few of my friends over there. So all that information, as I said … So EB5AN, first thing, worked very well because of the reasons I mentioned. Kolter worked very well for everything that I understand. And then the Twin Lakes itself. So these three factors worked really well for us, and because of which we decided to go forward with that.

Very important, very important, super important. And the fact that when we started this process, we didn’t even know what we are supposed to ask, and your website helped us with that too. And we realized the importance of this as we moved forward in the process, because, to be frank, I’m not somebody who is investing on a regular basis. So I was new to the process, and we spent a good amount of time in researching and making sure that we are moving in the right direction.

So yes, all that documentation, we spent a good amount of time in looking at it and reviewing it. In fact, we consulted some of our close friends as well as we were doing that. Everything was super helpful. So the short answer is really … That’s why I said that whole transparent approach since the beginning clicked very well for us.

And to be frank, all the other programs that I was looking into, I never reached that stage where the other party is comfortable sharing those details with us. It was only for this particular project we went so much ahead that finally we decided to take this forward and we got access to some of those documents that you just mentioned, Sam. So it was helpful for sure.

I think once we made that determination, once we were very much ready that we had all the sources of funds with us, it went pretty quickly. So we obviously … First, our attorney did all that in the background as well. He made sure that he has all the details that he needs for the filing purposes. Once the filing is done, then I remember I think we got that letter, the acknowledgement letter from your side, pretty quickly. It was a matter of few days as far as I remember we got that letter. So yeah, there were no hiccups at all after that process.

Obviously, the place where we spent more time was actually doing our research, making sure, as I said, that we are moving in the right direction. We spent a lot of time in figuring out the project. But once all that was done, once we had all that source of funds established with Dennis, after that, things moved pretty quickly. It was a very smooth process after that.

Yeah, I did. For me and for my spouse, we did 526, and along with that, we did 485, 765, and 131. And the interesting part is that we got our 526 approval before our 765 and 131. My spouse got her approval for the EAD as well as the advance parole. Due to some reason I don’t know, I haven’t got yet. So my 526 came before EAD and 131. And based on everything that I understand from Dennis, this is not uncommon. This has happened in the past as well. In fact, what he thinks is that probably I’ll get my 485 faster than the 131 and 765. So the timing that he has given me … And I hope that is … We’ll see how it’ll play out. But the timing that he has given me is about one to three months after 526 approval. So I’m really looking forward to that.

Sure. I think the first and foremost is that you have to pick the project carefully. That is the key piece. So do as much research as you can in figuring that piece out, because ultimately, all investments have risk, but as long as you pick the project right, at least you can hope to get your investment back. Even if it takes a couple of extra years than some of the more riskier projects, I would say that’s still better than not getting anything at all. So yes, definitely, this first step of carefully picking the project is very, very important.

Once that is done, then obviously the second step—which you should be doing in parallel as well—which attorney you should be working with. And as I said, I would not personally go with somebody who is famous, but I would go with somebody who I am comfortable talking with, and that would be my recommendation for anyone out there as well who is looking for an attorney. And be prepared. When you have these conversations with the prospective attorneys, be prepared with the questions you have. And that’s your opportunity to really understand the attorney and to understand what he or she can do for you. So that’s the second-most-important thing.

So project selected, attorney selected, and then the third thing—which also I would say we need to do all in parallel—is make sure that you have clarity on your funds, because I know there are some investors who want to invest a partial amount, and then after certain months, they want to add more. I would say make sure that you have full clarity on how you will be coming up with that amount, whether it’s 800K or one million, depending on the project you’re choosing. But you need to have full clarity on day one that “This will be my source of funds,” because ultimately, you have to prove that. You have to give all those details to USCIS, who will ultimately be reviewing all those details very carefully, based on which they will be giving the approval.

So these three things—project, attorney, your source of funds clarity—I think these three things are very important. Once you have that, then the process is pretty straightforward.

100%, 100%. Both EB5AN as well as Dennis. I think the experience so far has been great, so I would definitely recommend all of the prospective investors to consider these two options.