American Lending Center Concludes Tour of Key EB-5 Markets in Asia
LONG BEACH, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–American Lending Center (ALC), a leading EB-5 regional center and a subsidiary of Regional Centers Holding Group, concluded visits of key and emerging EB-5 markets throughout Asia. Comprised of conferences sponsored by and seminars led by ALC experts, the tour included stops in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Shanghai, China; Delhi, India; and Taipei and Taichung, Taiwan.
ALC President Bruce Thompson represented the regional center, a platinum sponsor, at the EB5 Investors Magazine 2019 EB-5 Expo Ho Chi Minh City held March 14-15. Thompson also spoke on a panel entitled “Latest Legislation: Regional Center Program Update, Keeping Current, Looking to the Future.” Following the conference, ALC executives led a seminar on March 16 in Ho Chi Minh City introducing the regional center’s unique business model, which has resulted in the completion of over 70 projects exclusively in the senior loan structure. ALC’s Vietnam-based team held a second event on March 23, while Thompson traveled to ALC’s Delhi office to lead a similar seminar to potential investors in the Indian market interested in the EB-5 immigration and investment process. Additional seminars were held by ALC experts in Taipei and Taichung, Taiwan from March 23-27.
John Shen, American Lending Center’s CEO, meanwhile attended a second conference held by EB5 Investors Magazine in Shanghai, China on March 18, for which ALC served as a gold sponsor. Shen spoke on a panel about “The Realities of EB-5: Current Program Status, USCIS Policies and Litigation, What Chinese Investors Should Consider.” Shen, representing one of the few regional centers still recruiting investors in China and the conference’s sole U.S. regional center in attendance despite Shanghai’s past dominance of the EB-5 program, brought a unique and expert perspective regarding the policy challenges facing the program with his remarks.
“According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the total number of new EB-5 cases filed in 2018 was 6,424, only 53% of the total in 2017,” said Shen. “Visa retrogression has significantly reduced the value of the EB-5 program in China, and this trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon. We certainly feel the pain of those families impacted by the visa backlog and are trying to help them in a number of different ways.”
One such way the regional center has tried to solve the retrogression crisis on behalf of investors is through litigation. ALC currently serves as the only institutional plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit led by legendary litigator Ira Kurzban challenging the U.S. government to adopt a “one visa to one family” policy.
