EB-5 Provides Mexicans With Another Refugee Visa
EB-5 Provides Mexicans With Another Refugee Visa
Date: Tuesday, March 09, 2010 1:29 AM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 2091 -- 3/09/2010 >>>>>
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The title of a new Christian Science Monitor article reads like a parody of
words: "Who s creating US jobs? Mexicans", by Taylor Barnes, March 2, 2010.
Mexicans are using EB-5 visas to escape the violence of drug cartels not to
create jobs for Americans. To get out of Mexico they will use whatever visas
they can get, including L-1.
It s perfectly legal. Immigrants can bring in family on an EB-5
visa if they invest $500,000 to $1 million in a US business.
Mexicans have a cheaper deal via E-1 and E-2 visas, thanks to a
treaty with the US. Gama took a similar tack, buying Village
Gourmet and transferring himself to the US as its new executive
via an L-1 visa, designed for intercompany executive transfers.
Ricardo del Rio s frankness is refreshing. He explained that he wants to avoid
living in areas of the U.S. that are diversified. Apparently Mexicans are
still allowed to be honest -- a characteristic we could use more of in the
U.S.
"San Antonio just came out -- as probably one of the best cities to
invest in," says Alfredo Lozano, an immigration attorney who works
in the same law firm as Mr. Martinez. It s close to Mexico but
considered less dangerous than cities like Brownsville and Laredo.
That s what attracted Ricardo del Rio.
"Very Mexican, very friendly. Quiet. I call it ranch," says the
polite and precise insurance agent, who got E-2 visas for his
family at the end of 2006.
He turned down a job in Miami -- concerned his family wouldn t
feel at home with the diverse Latino communities there. Setting up
shop in California would have cost him three times as much,
he adds.
Now, let s talk about the jobs these Mexicans are creating with their
investments.
But Mr. del Rio might not be here much longer. His visa business
plan called for hiring seven people over five years in his
insurance business, and that s yet to happen. He has two more years
to make good on that proposal -- and thinks he may hire a handful
-- or he won t be able to renew his visa and he and his family
will be forced to leave the US -- an unsavory prospect. "I wanted
to be out [of Mexico] before something really bad happened,"
he says.
If I was a gambler I would put my money on Mr. del Rio staying, even though he
hasn t hired even one of the 10 people that is stipulated by the terms of EB-
5. In that two year time frame he and his wife could have an anchor baby, and
that s all they will need to stay in the USA. Very few EB-5 visa holders get
kicked out of the country for violating the investment terms of the visa, so
even without the anchor baby they most likely will find an excuse to stay.
Of course we can t judge EB-5 with just one example, and fortunately the CSM
provides us with another one -- this time a Mexican with a jewelry bead store.
His employee count is about a dozen people in three different shops, so he
employs over the required minimum of 10 -- assuming all of his employees are
legal.
So, here is the real reason the Mexicans are using EB-5:
Luis Escobar, owner of EGA Direct, a private consultancy that
similarly reaches out to potential immigrant investors. He moved
to San Antonio after being kidnapped twice in Mexico. He estimates
that 80 percent of his clients want to move for security concerns.
"I have a client without a foot. I have a client without a finger.
We have clients without one member of the family," he says.
Escobar claims to have a very good success rate. If he continues to bring
Mexican EB-5s into Texas, we should soon see the unemployment rate drop to
zero.
Escobar says none of his clients have had their visa requests
turned down, but he s selective. He refuses to take inquires from
investors in states like Sinaloa and Chihuahua. "The probability
that we -- find out a wealthy person in those states [is related to
the drug trade] is very high," he says.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/2010/0302/Who-s-creating-US-jobs-Mexicans
Who s creating US jobs? Mexicans.
Fed up with violence in Mexico, entrepreneurs are moving north. That means the
US is seeing the benefit from the businesses they start.
New start: Pierre Gama and his son Emilio at Village Gourmet in San Antonio.
He spent $200,000 to start the business, which allowed him and his son to
obtain US visas and leave Mexico.
(Taylor Barnes)
By Taylor Barnes Correspondent
posted March 2, 2010 at 9:41 am EST
San Antontio
For Pierre Gama, the fourth kidnapping was the final straw. Armed carjackers
made him drive his car in circles until he gave them the numbers to his credit
cards. With two small children and a wife -- who was with him during one such
secuestro express -- the security entrepreneur wanted out of Mexico City.
Mr. Gama proposed moving to Canada, but his wife said it was too cold there.
So he opted for an escape route a growing number of his wealthiest countrymen
are taking: He bought his family s way into the United States by spending
about $200,000 on a San Antonio restaurant and catering business.
It s perfectly legal. Immigrants can bring in family on an EB-5 visa if they
invest $500,000 to $1 million in a US business. Mexicans have a cheaper deal
via E-1 and E-2 visas, thanks to a treaty with the US. Gama took a similar
tack, buying Village Gourmet and transferring himself to the US as its new
executive via an L-1 visa, designed for intercompany executive transfers.
"The misfortune for Mexico [is the] fortune for the United States," says Irene
Kegan, executive director of the Mexican Business Association in San Antonio.
As Mexico s drug wars escalate, businessmen and families have become a natural
target for traffickers looking to extortion to finance their operations, says
Art Martinez de Vara, a San Antonio-based immigration lawyer. Some 17,000
people have been killed in drug violence since President Felipe Caldersn took
office in December 2006 and vowed to take on the drug traffickers.
In fiscal year 2008, the US issued E-1 and E-2 visas to 1901 Mexicans and
their families, nearly three times the level of a decade before. (See chart at
left.)
The natural target for Mexican immigrant investors? San Antonio.
"San Antonio just came out ... as probably one of the best cities to invest
in," says Alfredo Lozano, an immigration attorney who works in the same law
firm as Mr. Martinez. It s close to Mexico but considered less dangerous than
cities like Brownsville and Laredo.
That s what attracted Ricardo del Rio.
"Very Mexican, very friendly. Quiet. I call it ranch," says the polite and
precise insurance agent, who got E-2 visas for his family at the end of 2006.
He turned down a job in Miami -- concerned his family wouldn t feel at home
with the diverse Latino communities there. Setting up shop in California would
have cost him three times as much, he adds.
But Mr. del Rio might not be here much longer. His visa business plan called
for hiring seven people over five years in his insurance business, and that s
yet to happen. He has two more years to make good on that proposal -- and
thinks he may hire a handful -- or he won t be able to renew his visa and he
and his family will be forced to leave the US -- an unsavory prospect. "I
wanted to be out [of Mexico] before something really bad happened," he says.
Jewelrymaker moves to San Antonio
As a third-generation jewelrymaker, opening a beading store was natural for
one Mexican immigrant (who declined to give his name for security reasons).
He has about 40 bead stores in Mexico now and was already employing
jewelrymakers as a college student.
But crime pushed the enterprising Mexican here. His Mexican stores were robbed
18 times last year, he says. He d had four robberies in all the years
beforehand.
He s opened three Beading2gos in the San Antonio area in the past two years.
On a December Sunday, two bilingual employees fluttered amid a stream of
clients in the make-your-own-jewelry shop.
"Ah! You guys are hiring!" says a grandmotherly woman making a tiny bracelet
for a baby shower, pointing to a help wanted sign.
"Si, de veras," the staffer responds. It s a permanent position, says the
owner, who employs about a dozen people in these shops in which he invested
initially about $175,000 in stock and $45,000 in remodeling. He and the co-
owner, his wife, bought a house here two months ago and plan to open a fourth
store soon either in Texas or Arkansas. (Why Arkansas? "It s lovely!" he says
of Little Rock.)
He came at the invitation of the city of San Antonio, which runs an
international affairs department that reaches out to potential Mexican
immigrant investors.
"What we are doing is offering the American companies to find Mexicans,"
says Luis Escobar, owner of EGA Direct, a private consultancy that similarly
reaches out to potential immigrant investors. He moved to San Antonio after
being kidnapped twice in Mexico. He estimates that 80 percent of his clients
want to move for security concerns. "I have a client without a foot. I have a
client without a finger. We have clients without one member of the family," he
says.
The State Department does not yet have data for how many Mexican immigrant
investors came in fiscal year 2009. But recent events may have stoked the
movement further: After the widely publicized 2008 "Martm case" -- in which a
prominent businessman s adolescent son was kidnapped and killed, despite the
family having reportedly paid millions in ransom -- Mr. Escobar says online
inquiries increased from eight monthly to up to 40.
Escobar says none of his clients have had their visa requests turned down, but
he s selective. He refuses to take inquires from investors in states like
Sinaloa and Chihuahua. "The probability that we ... find out a wealthy person
in those states [is related to the drug trade] is very high," he says.
Bought restaurant, now expanding
Gama s life has taken a turn for the better since leaving Mexico last summer.
He plans to open another Village Gourmet this year. He s made some updates to
the place, increasing online advertising and adding a few new hamburger
dishes. But the most popular dish is still chicken potpie, he says. The menu
claims it sells 650 a month.
In the airy restaurant wedged in a sprawling stuccoed shopping center next to
a Walgreens pharmacy and within walking distance of Barbara Bush Middle
School, son Emilio plays on his lap and asks for his mom. Gama explains that
his wife hasn t come yet. Her common name was too similar to others with
criminal backgrounds, delaying her visa. She was still living in Mexico City
in December.
They re renting an apartment now in San Antonio. Does he want to bide his time
until he can return safely to Mexico or stay in Texas? "Yes, yes," he answers
to the second.
"Little by little, the idea is that we re going to sell what we have there,
the properties we have," Gama says in Spanish. "And little by little, make
this change."
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