Hardik (Part 2) from India

Sure, Sam. Hi, everyone. My name is Hardik Kholwadwala. And my country of birth is India, but I’ve been living in Canada for the last about 25 years before I moved to U.S. And main reason for myself to look towards EB-5 was for myself, particularly with the work opportunity, and then for my family. If I’m moving, I want to make sure that my family is also eligible to stay and work in U.S. So as working in Canada for the last 10, 15 years after my graduation, I saw that there was a lot more opportunity in the U.S. side within my field. So my background is electrical engineering, and I particularly work in the utility sector. So although there is opportunities there, I was working for a good company there, but I saw that there was not a lot of growth opportunity, and in U.S. there was a diverse market to grow and explore myself in various different companies and get that opportunity.

So for me, when I started looking into opportunities, the first thing that came to my mind is, okay, for every time I apply for a position, they ask am I eligible to work in the U.S. And for me it was straightforward—it’s yes, because there’s something called TN visa, but that is just simply temporary work permit. So if I’m planning to stay and work in the U.S., I want to make sure that I should be able to work without any dependency of getting that visa stamping done through a company sponsorship or anything like that. So that’s when I started looking at the options, exactly how would a residency option would look for me. And when I started doing that, I realized that there’s not too many options that would give me a residency within a limited amount of time that would also secure residency, not only for myself but also my family. And that’s when I started looking for EB5AN, or actually rather EB-5 route, and I started exploring more into that.

Of course, yes. So I applied for EB-5 last year in June or rather July. And then I had some travel plans. So one of the conditions that my lawyer told me that when you apply for EB-5 and if you directly apply for I-485 or your EAD and travel permit, you need to stay within the country until it is approved. And what that does is every time I have to leave the country, I have to get that temporarily removed, which is little bit of a barrier, because every time I have to go, I have to stop at the border, they’ll take me in, or if I’m flying, I have to go through that immigration process. And for me to do that every time without having to stop, that is where the travel permit comes in. But more importantly, every time, let’s say if I feel like I’m in danger of losing my job for any reason or I have to look for another job, that’s when I realized that the EAD is more important.

So for me, the process was I applied in August for EAD and travel permit, and I received it in December. And that allowed me to actually enjoy, go back to my family. I have a lot of family in Canada. I was able to go back to my family at the end of the year to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

No. I would say that is probably the biggest advantage I have, because the company that I work for right now I’m happy with. So I’m not in an immediate search for a new job or new opportunity. But for my wife, she was stay at home. and she wasn’t able to work here in U.S. So it worked out perfectly fine. As soon as she got her time off, she got a break from her work when we moved from Canada to U.S., and then by the end of the year she had the EAD in hand. So that means that when we came back from our trip to Canada, she was right away looking for work, because both of our kids are at school and daycare and she is bored at home. So she’s looking for something, and she wanted to continue with her career. So right away, and within a month she was actually … There’s a lot more opportunity for her even here compared to when she was in Canada, with a lot more pay and a lot more flexibility.

Sure, definitely. So before I got my I-526E approved, I noticed that for Twin Lakes project, the fastest approval was nine months roughly, I think, nine, nine and a half months. And when I saw that, I started calculating when are my nine and a half months done. So I should start looking into it, let me see am I getting approved soon or not. So every day I would … I have my case on one of those apps that would give you an update without me logging into USCIS website. So every morning, I refreshed those apps just to see if I get approved. And it was funny, because I actually went on a trip to Mexico for a few days, and soon as I landed in Mexico, I saw a notification that “There is an update on your 526E case.” And I opened it, and it was to my surprise approved, with some fireworks and stuff.

So I was actually very excited and very happy to see. The first thing I informed was my lawyer. And before I got the notification in the mail, she received it electronically I believe, so she forwarded it to me. Yeah, that was really exciting, because I know now I’m already in line to receive that Green Card. And there is no wait time, so I should receive my Green Card along with my family anytime. And it’s just very nice to see these stories for myself, but then it’s also encouraging for others who are applying into this program.

Yeah, for sure. I mean, when I had EAD, I was already eligible to switch work. So with the Green Card, now I know that, once I have my Green Card, it not only allows me flexibility in terms of jobs, I believe there are a lot of opportunities. It also expands more opportunity, because eventually I do plan to get my Green Card converted into citizenship. And when I do that, I open up a lot more opportunity because a lot of the companies require citizenship of the country before they can allow someone to work. So that’s one.

The other is it opens a lot more doors for my kids now, because now they’re also eligible. They will receive their Green Card in future, whether they want to stay in U.S. or outside somewhere, at least they have that option, that they don’t have to worry about staying here or getting their own visa after they turn 21. So that is probably biggest.

For me right now, yes, that is an option. And I think having the Green Card is one milestone achieved. Getting a citizenship would be second. But of course, at the end of this loan term, I’ll get the funding back, and that will allow me to basically use that investment and pursue other opportunities. If I want to invest in a business or if I want to start another … invest somewhere, another house or anything like that, that gives me a lot more flexibility, and it basically gives me that relief that now I don’t have to worry about finding my own residency and I have to worry about how can I use this fund. Should I invest first? I have everything covered. So that is a good news for me.

So I believe I went to about four or five different EB-5 regional centers. For me, I think I spoke about this before, but I looked at what type of projects are available outside, what areas they’re available in, and basically what sort of offering they have. When I did that through my research, I realized that real estate is something where I really want to focus on. But within that, obviously there’s a lot more real estate, a lot of different type of real estate. There’s hotel industry, a resort. There is housing. And I always sort of understand housing market a little better than the other. I invested in different properties back in Canada. So same way I applied my logic here, my research here, and I realized that I want to focus on residential projects. And that’s when I narrowed down to EB5AN.

Now, when I narrowed it down, I also wanted to look at … It’s a 55-plus community, so I did a little bit more research in that field, and I realized that with the location, the project size, and the community, it fits perfectly well within what I’m looking for. And I felt that the project was the best in terms of what I’m looking for. It was a rural project. It was 55-plus community. It was a residential, just in the outskirts of Atlanta. And Atlanta is a metro city, and it’s growing. It’s getting crowded, and people are looking to move just on the suburbs or if not too far outside of the metro cities. And that’s where I felt that this project was very much viable, because a lot of people have families that they want to stay close to. And when you have parents who want to live with grandkids or close to grandkids, this was a very perfect place. A lot of snowbirds who want to fly into a warmer area when it’s cold up north. And this was also another project that was appealing. And then others were stats about 55-plus, growing population of 55-plus looking to find an active lifestyle community like this. And that was basically what narrowed it down for me at Twin Lakes with EB5AN.

So first time when I visited, it was last year. I believe that was in end of May or end of April, early May. And that’s when I first, based on I was looking more closely with Twin Lakes, I actually visited the property. I looked at it. I wanted to understand. And I didn’t book any tour or anything like that. I just went there, and I wanted to see. I didn’t want to go as an investor or anyone. I just walked in. So it was good to see, because even when I walked in randomly, there was a lot of people there in the office who were looking at the properties or actually buying the property or putting themselves on hold for next. And I went through a walking tour with another group that they were doing the tour for. I looked at the model homes, I looked at the amenities, facilities that they were providing, and it just blew my mind. With the builder, the work they have done in terms of the quality of the project, the housing, it was very appealing to see.

And it was very exciting at the same time, because it was not just one of those random or a small community, but it was actually a well-built, luxurious community that works well for those 55-plus community, offering all the amenities—swimming pool, pickleball courts, gym, everything, everything. And basically, I felt that that was the niche of that property, as well as the location.

And after that, I was like 99% in there that this is the project I wanted to invest in, and 1% was just to figure out … I wanted to make sure that I had all of my source of funds properly aligned.

And since then, I went back three times, one time right after the investment in July. And I kept on getting those newsletters that the property sales are going on, housing sales are going on, people are moving in, and I can see that stages of development. When I first moved in, there was an area right on the other side of the clubhouse that was still being constructed, and now it’s pretty much constructed. So I can see that transition happening, and I can see people are moving, walking around, and I see the community, happy community there. So yeah, it was just good to see that community grow and people moving in.

I felt, for me, that was probably my number one criteria when I was looking into projects, when I narrowed down what type of project I was looking for. The second thing was it has to be a rural project. My country of birth is India, and by the time I would apply for any other category, not only right now there is a long wait time, I’d probably be joining the back of that back line. And for me to have that opportunity within even EB-5 category, to have 20% set-aside visa for rural area, that was more important. And that’s why I felt, for my EB-5 project investment, rural area was the right place. Sorry, I missed the second question there.

Yeah. For me, obviously that’s another key area that you want to look into, because your project is approved, your source of fund is approved, but you want to make sure that your Green Card stays intact. And that only happens when you provide those proof that your investment created that 10 jobs that you need to be successful. They remove that condition on your Green Card. And to have those jobs already created, and when you go there, you actually see that there’s so much effort that gets put in to building a project that’s up to scale. And for that, when you see that, it is very assuring that not only the project is viable, not only you’re going to do your due diligence on providing those right source of funds, but at the end of the process, when you are near the close, when you’re trying to remove that condition on your Green Card, you have all that jobs created, your project is still intact and your funds are still intact, and you’re guaranteeing yourself that once you get your Green Card, that Green Card is not going away from you. And you’re eligible to remove that condition, and eventually if you need to or if you want to, you can become a U.S. citizen.

Anyone who comes to me and says that “I’m thinking,” I say do it as soon as possible. I say don’t wait until you hear some more stories or you want to hear someone to get that funding back. If you have the funding, go ahead and do it right now, because right now is the right time. I’m not saying that in future it’s not the right time, but right now there is no backlog. All the dates are current, and there are so many projects available outside. And even within Twin Lakes, there are still some spots available. I would say go for it, because right now, the way things are going, EB5AN is probably going to be your best bet in terms of getting your Green Card as soon as possible. And with the dates, all the dates are current. If you can manage to get those funds in, I would say within five years, you’re looking at not only getting your funds back, you’ll be very close to getting your—forget about Green Card—you’re going to be close to becoming a citizen. For many who’ve been here for at least 10, 15 years, they’re still in the process where a Green Card is still far away.

So I would say pick the project, narrow down what you need, and if you’re really thinking about EB-5, go for it. I would say do it now. If you’re waiting for some funding, see if you can get those funding from a friend or someone, and better to do it now than a little later. But I would say EB-5 is a great place to start.

Thank you very much. Thank you for having me here. And I really appreciate everything that EB5AN has provided for me. I want to just reiterate Sam has been really helpful and answering all the questions and just giving that confidence of everything is right. It’s not just Sam—it’s the entire team. I actively hear Ahmed speaking, and he provides more details on what updates that he gets, and that’s more encouraging. So if anyone’s really thinking about it, go ahead, ask the questions. If you’re interested, EB5AN is a great place, and if you’re thinking about it, go ahead. Talk to the team, and they’ll answer any questions, all the questions that you have. Thank you.