Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Leung Chun-ying, announced in the 2015 Policy Address that the Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme will be suspended starting tomorrow.
In fact, as a leading institution in the immigration industry, Worldway Immigration has always demonstrated professionalism and foresight in project selection. At the end of last year, Worldway Immigration had already anticipated the policy changes to the Hong Kong Capital Investment Entrant Scheme. At the beginning of 2015, the official Worldway Immigration website published seven consecutive articles, comprehensively analyzing the predictions regarding the suspension of the Hong Kong scheme and taking the lead in forecasting three major crisis events for U.S. investment immigration in 2015. These previously released reports once again prove that Worldway Immigration's analysis of investment immigration policy trends and risks is timely, accurate, and thorough.
On April 4, 2007, Worldway Immigration's predictive capability was similarly validated during the suspension of the Macau Capital Investment Entrant Scheme. Everything is still vivid in our memory; the last client file cleared before the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute closed the program was submitted by colleagues from the Worldway Immigration Macau office.
Worldway Immigration experts analyze and predict that after Hong Kong's suspension of its investment immigration scheme, the next government to take action will be the United States. Although the EB-5 investment immigration reform bills proposed over the past two years have not passed, they have clearly proposed price increase plans. A price hike is imminent; it is only a matter of time. Industry experts predict that the increase is most likely to occur on September 30, 2015, when Congress votes on the extension of the EB-5 Regional Center Program.
How will the EB-5 price increase, and to what extent? Worldway Immigration experts point out that, barring any surprises, the reference for the price increase will be based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The average CPI-U in 1990 was 130.7, and the average for the first 10 months of 2014 was 236.987, representing a 1.813-fold increase in the CPI-U over 24 years. Based on this calculation, the current $500,000 investment in a TEA (Targeted Employment Area) would rise to $906,500, and the $1 million investment in non-TEA areas would rise to $1.813 million.
So, what impact will the U.S. EB-5 investment immigration price hike have on investors?
First, investors will face increased capital requirements and greater pressure.
When the investment threshold rises from $500,000 to $906,500, it means investors need to commit $400,000 more than before, which undoubtedly significantly increases the investment pressure on them.
Second, the investment risk for investors will increase accordingly.
After shifting from a $500,000 risk investment to a $900,000 risk investment, the amount of capital involved in risk management will inevitably increase accordingly.
Finally, the difficulty of documenting the source of funds will increase accordingly.
The additional $400,000 over the original $500,000 also requires proof of the source of funds. After the EB-5 investment price hike, the work required for investors to prepare and explain the source of funds will certainly become more difficult.
However, overall, even if the U.S. EB-5 investment immigration threshold rises to $900,000, it remains the most cost-effective and high-value investment immigration program compared to those in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Therefore, U.S. investment immigration will continue to be highly popular in the future. The key to success in U.S. immigration lies in choosing high-quality projects.
Worldway Immigration experts point out that with the visa retrogression for the 2015 fiscal year approaching, time is tight, and investors can no longer afford to hesitate. Currently, making a firm decision to choose a project and submitting an application as early as possible may be the final deadline for investors to secure an EB-5 visa. To ensure a successful application and reduce processing time, choosing projects already approved by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is currently a better strategy to cope with retrogression and price hikes. Currently, the Pennsylvania Turnpike project, exclusively represented by Worldway Immigration, and the New York Liberty Garden luxury apartment project, for which we are the sole chief agent, are both high-quality EB-5 projects already approved by the USCIS. Both projects are currently seeing a rush to purchase, with spots becoming extremely scarce. For details, please call: 400-138-2929.
