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America's Center for Foreign Investment established
By Boyd
F. Campbell
Attorney and Civil Law
Notary
On
June 11, 2007, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officially
designated the America's Center for Foreign
Investment, L.L.C. (ACFI-RC) as a southeastern United States
Regional Center. ACFI was established on July 5, 2006, as a limited
liability company for the purpose of applying for designation by USCIS as
a Regional Center.
Alabama
Regional Center Project I was announced in Cullman, Alabama, on January
31, 2008, an $8 million investment in a hurricane-resistant modular homes
manufacturing plant. The homes are called "Katrina cottages" with
reference to the deadly 2005 hurricane that destroyed thousands of homes
on the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi and in New Orleans. This
project involves 16 South Korean investors.
In 2009, ACFI underwent a huge geographic expansion and name change to America's
Center for Foreign Inestment.
Federal law
and regulations provide for the establishment of a "Regional Center" to
encourage investment by foreign nationals in the United States. Once
approved by federal authorities, a Regional Center allows foreign investors
to invest their money in qualified Regional Center investment projects
in the Southeast to enable them to apply for immigration benefits for
themselves and immediate family members (normally spouse and dependent
children) in an amount not less than $500,000. The visas are conditionally
approved for two years. The basic conditions — that the investor's
capital is still at risk, and that at least ten (10) jobs for U.S. workers
were created as a result — may be satisfied by presenting further documentation
within 90 days prior to the second year of the foreign investor's conditional
immigrant visa status in order to obtain permanent resident status in the
United States.
Congress has made available 3,000 of 10,000 available immigrant investor
visas each fiscal year are set aside for investors who take advantage
of Regional Centers, but the number of visas issued has rarely exceeded a
few hundred each year, with the exception of 1997, when 436 investors
were admitted as conditional residents. ACFI-RC could generate as such
as $50 million or more annually in direct foreign investment and create
thousands of jobs for Alabamians -- both directly and indirectly -- each
year.
ACFI-RC,
as Alabama's officially designated, statewide Regional Center, has identified
a variety of investment projects in rural areas of Alabama that would qualify
under federal regulations for eligible Regional Center projects, and ACFI-RC
will provide services to foreign investors in order to help them with the
federal requirements of this Immigrant Investor Pilot Program (also called
by its immigrant visa category -- EB5).
ACFI-RC
uses the economic research services of the Center
for Business and Economic Research of the University of Alabama's Culverhouse
School of Commerce in order to provide research for individual investors
and their immigration lawyers. Dr.
Sam Addy serves as Director of the Center and will employ multiplier
analyses in connection with ACFI-RC's development projects in order to
show the creation of 10 U.S. jobs per immigrant investor.
ACFI-RC
also uses the services of the Center
for International Business and Economic Development of Troy
State University's Sorrell College of Business. Dr.
Judson Edwards
serves
as Director of that Center and assisted ACFI in expanding its geographic
area. Mr. Drinkard and I serve on the Center's Advisory Board.
Dr. Edwards accepted the position of dean of the
Sorrell College of Business at Troy University in May 2010.
ACFI-RC
is working closely with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community
Affairs (ADECA), which was designated by Alabama's governor in 1995 to
identify areas of high unemployment -- also called "targeted employment
areas" -- in Alabama, in both rural and urban areas. Congress set
aside an additional 3,000 immigrant visas for entrepreneurs who invest
in targeted employment areas. ACFI-RC has also identified potential
Regional Center projects in those areas to bring in badly needed jobs and
investment capital.
Evaluating
and preparing immigrant visa cases for participants in the Immigrant Investor
Pilot Program under the EB5 immigrant visa category represents some of
the most difficult and complex legal work an immigration lawyer can undertake.
The process is anything but simple, made more difficult by USCIS adjudications
and Board of Immigration Appeals decisions. Recently, USCIS has indicated
that it will be more careful in handling these cases and, in January 2005,
it established the Investor and Regional Center Unit (IRCU) to provide
oversight for policy, regulatory development, field guidance, and training,
and the USCIS Foreign Trader, Investor & Regional Center Program (FTIRCP)
to provide EB5 program oversight and guidance. Congress likes the
EB5 program, so it looks like it is here to stay -- even though it sunsets
on November 30, 2008.
Because
I serve as General Counsel of the Alabama Regional Center and cannot accept
individual investor visa petitions with regard to ACFI-RC's Regional Center
investment projects, I have put together a team of highly experienced and
qualified U.S. immigration lawyers -- none with less than 10 years of experience
and all members in good standing of the American
Immigration Lawyers Association -- who are available to handle individual
immigrant investor cases.
Firms
that work with foreign investors and wish to take advantage of the Alabama
Regional Center should contact me directly, or our Director, Ron Drinkard,
at +334.954.3111.
The
establishment of ACFI-RC and the statewide Alabama Regional Center to fully
participate in the Immigrant Investor Pilot Program represents an enormous
accomplishment, which I owe in large part to ACFI-RC's Director, Ron Drinkard.
I have been aware of this "employment-creation visa" program since its
inception but elected not to participate in the program or establish an
Alabama Regional Center until I was sure the program would work and meet
the needs of potential foreign investors. Today the level of foreign
investment in Alabama, particularly by Alabama's automobile manufacturers
-- Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai -- is truly astounding and has
attracted potential foreign investors who wish to use Alabama Regional
Center investment projects to obtain permanent resident status in the United
States. I could not be more excited about the prospects for the Alabama
Regional Center. The responsibilities to serve the foreign investor,
the people of Alabama, and carefully manage ACFI-RC under USCIS guidlines
will challenge me, and I look forward to meeting the challenge.
Boyd F. Campbell has practiced immigration and nationality law and private international law in Montgomery, Alabama, since 1988. He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), and the Alabama State Bar. He served as Senior Vice-Chair and Chair of the Immigration Law Committee of the American Bar Association's General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Lawyers Section. He also served as Co-Chair for employees of the Immigration Law Committee of the ABA's Labor and Employment Law Section and was a member of the ABA's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law from 1994 to 1998. He is a founder and served as Chair of the International Law Section of the Alabama State Bar from 2000-2002. He serves as General Counsel of America's Center for Foreign Investment, L.L.C., the nation's largest federally designated Regional Center.
Questions or comments
about this article may be directed to:
Immigration
Law Center, L.L.C.
P.O. Box 11032
Montgomery, Alabama 36111-0032
USA
Telephone: (334) 832-9090
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