Presented by:

Business & Real Estate Opportunities to Partner with Foreign Companies & Investors

About Our Firm

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Our firm has been located in Downtown El Cajon for over 20 years.

Our office staff currently consists of six full time attorneys and two full time support staff members.

Our team of specialists consistently delivers outstanding results combining creative ideas with our vast experience. We can help you build a sustainable, meaningful relationship with your clients by engaging them with your brand using social media.

Our staff is fluent in English, Spanish, Chaldean and Arabic.

Garmo & Garmo, LLP

Who We Are

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Freddy Garmo

• 25 years of experience• Specializes in Business Law, Real

Estate Law, and Estate Planning

• 27 years of experience• Licensed in California and Michigan• Specializes in Immigration Law, Real

Estate Law, and Business Transactions/ Business Opportunities

Robert Garmo

Partner Partner

Who will benefit from this presentation?

Business & Investment Immigration,A collaborative process

Developers - Foreign money is pouring in

Entrepreneurs & syndicators - Put ideas into action with foreign money

Attorneys - Immigration / corporate / Business

Business Owners - Sell your business / secure partnerships

Real Estate Owners - Sell / lease property to rich foreign investors

Brokers & Real Estate Agents - Foreigners are looking to buy business & real estate

Accountants - Required for most of the applications discussed

Bankers - Needed to open accounts / Transfer money

Title & Escrow companies - Needed with selling business or real estate

Insurance Brokers - Needed for businesses & real estate

Financial Planners - Foreign nationals come unattached and need planning

Estate Planning/Asset Protection- Foreign nationals are trying to bring their money to US

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Investment Immigration: A Collaborative Process

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Applicant consults with a network of professionals

• Certified Public Accountants (CPA)• Business plan• Projections• Tax implications

• Financial Planners• Insurance Agents• Estate Planning/Asset Protection• Foreign clients are usually detached

from professional representation

• Bankers• New accounts• Loans

• Real Estate or Business Agent• Locate potential

business/opportunity• Escrow/Title• Business Attorneys

• Entity selection• Buy/Sell Agreements• Review legal documents

USA –A beacon of light for the World

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0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

Immigration into the U.S. by decade (1820-2010)

1820’s 1830’s 1840’s 1850’s 1860’s 1870’s 1880’s 1890’s 1900’s 1910’s 1920’s 1930’s 1940’s 1950’s 1960’s 1970’s 1980’s 1990’s 2000’s

Government Regulations that shaped our country

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• Abolished national origins quotas, establishing separate ceilings for the eastern (170,000) and western (120,000) hemispheres (combined in 1978). Categories of preference based on family ties, critical skills, artistic excellence, and refugee status.

Hart-Celler Act of 1965

02• Set annual immigrant

quotas for each country• Based on surnames and

not the census figures, 82% of all immigrants allowed in the country came from western and northern Europe, 16% from southern and eastern Europe, 2% from the rest of the world.

Immigration Act of 1924

01• Limited unskilled

workers to 10,000/year; skilled labor requirements and immediate family reunification major goals. Continued to promote nuclear family model. Foreign-born in US was 7%.

Immigration Act of 1990

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How Do People Come To America?

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• Permanent: Green Card

• Family Based Visas• Employment: Green

Card PERM: EB-3(Labor Certification)

• New Office: L-1A• Investor: EB-5

Immigrant Visas

• Temporary• Intent to return home• Visitor: B-1 or B-2• Student: F-1• Investor E-1 or E-2• Employment: H-1B• Intra Company

Transferee: L-1• Several Others

Non-Immigrant Visas

• Asylum• Refugee• Religious workers• Athletes & celebrities

Other Immigration01 02 03

Family Based Immigration Visa Bulletin Table

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Family-SponsoredAll Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed

CHINA-mainland born INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES

F1 08APR12 08APR12 08APR12 22SEP99 15MAR08

F2A 01DEC17 01DEC17 01DEC17 01DEC17 01DEC17

F2B 22JUN14 22JUN14 22JUN14 08OCT97 15JAN08

F3 01FEB07 01FEB07 01FEB07 08JUN00 01AUG97

F4 15JUN06 15JUN06 01FEB05 01NOV98 08DEC97

First: (F1) Unmarried Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens

Second: Spouses and Children, and Unmarried Sons and Daughters of Permanent Residents

A. (F2A) Spouses and Children of Permanent Residents;

B. (F2B) Unmarried Sons and Daughters (21 years of age or older) of Permanent Residents

Third: (F3) Married Sons and Daughters of U.S. Citizens

Fourth: (F4) Brothers and Sisters of Adult U.S. Citizens

• Long backlogs leading to merit based immigration system-Visa Bulletin – 02/2019

E-1 or E-2 Temporary Treaty Trader or Investor

L-1 Intra-company transferee

EB-3 PERM- Labor Certification

EB-5 Million Dollar Investor

Alternative Means of Immigration

Highlights of the E Visa

Applicant is interested in engaging in qualified “trade” or “investment.”

Basically, buy an existing business or open a new business of goods, services, or international trade.

Applicant must be from a treaty country.

Investment must be substantial and not marginal. There is no set investment amount, but it has to support more than just the investor’s family.

Investment must be active and not passive. Buying a home or apartment building will not suffice; however, managing the apartment building would work.

Applicant can be co-investor with an American firm so long as foreign investor owns 50% or more.

E visas are non-immigrant visas usually good for 2 to 5 years. Can be renewed.

Process is fast usually in 30 to 60 days.

Family members of investors can come. Foreign employees can come if they are essential to successful operations.

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Highlights of the L Visa

Enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from an affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the U.S.

Enables a foreign company which does not have an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States with the purpose of establishing one.

Employee must have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and

Be seeking to enter the United States to provide service in an executive or managerial capacity for a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

Foreign company must own at least 50% of the U.S. company

L visas are non-immigrant visas usually valid for initial period one year but can be renewed.

Process is fast usually in 30 to 60 days.

L-1 visa is the only visa that starts as non-immigrant and can jump to immigrant.

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Employment-Based Immigration Visa Bulletin Table-Visa Bulletin – 02/2019

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Employment- Based

All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed

CHINA -mainland born

EL SALVADOR GUATEMALA HONDURAS

INDIA MEXICO PHILIPPINES

1st 01JUN18 01OCT17 01JUN18 01OCT17 01JUN18 01JUN182nd C 01NOV15 C 22MAY09 C C3rd C 01JAN16 C 01APR10 C 01OCT17Other Workers C 01JUN08 C 01APR10 C 01OCT174th C C 01MAR16 C C CCertain Religious Workers C C 01MAY16 C C C

5th Non Regional Center

5TH Regional Center

C 01OCT14

01OCT14

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

C

First: Persons with extraordinary abilities, Outstanding professors & researchers & Multinational executives (world renowned)

Second: Persons with advanced degrees & exceptional ability.

Third: Skilled Workers, Professionals, and Other Workers (labor certificate from Department of Labor)

Fourth: Broadcasters, religious workers, Iraqi & Afghan Interpreters who provided valuable service to the U.S. government of at least one year.

Fifth: Employment Creation (labor certificate from Department of Labor)

Highlights of the EB-3 – PERMPermanent Labor Certification

EB-3 is Employment Based 3rd preference.

A U.S. employer may petition for a foreign worker to receive a Green Card if the employer could not find a suitable employee in the U.S. to perform the job.

The employer must pay the foreign worker the prevailing wage for the occupation, must recruit U.S. workers first, and must receive department of labor certification before petitioning for a prospective employee.

This is not a temporary visa but a green card.

EB-3 is not only for the rich and educated. All occupations are acceptable such as landscaping; restaurant workers; farm workers, etc.

Entire process can happen in about 12 to 24 months.

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Highlights of the EB-5 Process

Created in 1990 to bring foreign investors to the U.S.

Provides investor, spouse and all children under age 21 a conditional green card.

Requires a $1 million investment and creation/saving of 10 jobs. Can be reduced to $500,000 if certain requirements are met.

Helps U.S. developers raise capital.

The investment must be at risk. The SEC does not like loan structures.

Takes about 24 to 36 months to process.

Parents and all unmarried children under 21 can enter on one EB-5 approval.

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From 2010 to 2015, 16.54 Billion Dollarswas invested and 276,210 jobs werecreated/supported.

Economic Impact of EB-5

1.Create a new business2.Take over a “troubled” business3. Invest in an existing Regional

Center

Three Ways to Invest

1. Build a new hotel, office building, gas station, car wash, supermarket, etc.

a. Minimum of $1 million dollar investment

b. Creation of 10 new jobs

2. Lease an existing vacant building and open up a new business

a. Minimum of $1 million dollar investment

b. Creation of 10 new jobs

3. Pool multiple investor money to create a new business

a. Each investor must invest $1 million dollars; and

b. Each investor must create 10 new jobs

1. Creating a New Business

To qualify under this investment method, you must:

1. Invest in a business that has existed for at least two years;

2. Invest in a business that has incurred a net loss, based on generally accepted accounting principles, for the 12-24 month period before you file the I-526 Form;

3. The loss of the 12 to 24 month period must be at least equal to 20 percent of the business’ net worth before the loss;

4. Maintain the number of jobs at no less than the pre-investment level for a period of at least two years;

5. Be involved in the day-to-day management of the troubled business or directly manage it through formulating business policy. Ex. Corporate officer or board member;

6. Meet the same requirements of the new commercial enterprise investment $1 million dollar investment ($500,000 for a targeted employment area).

2. Troubled Business

A Regional Center is defined as any economic unit, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment.

As of May 1, 2018, there were 901 Regional Centers approved in the U.S. New Hotels

Malls

Hospitals

Energy Companies

Office Buildings

3. Invest in a Regional Center

If the investment is in a business or Regional Center located in normal unemployment areas – the minimum investment is $1,000,000 and the creation of 10 jobs.

If the investment is in a business or Regional Center located in Targeted Employment Area – TEA, the minimum investment is $500,000 and the creation of 10 jobs.

TEA = unemployment rate is 1.5 times the national average.

Designated by the governor of that state

TEA is calculated by applying contiguous census tracts.

Regional Center - Targeted Employment Area (TEA)

Investor must prove that his money is clean through bank accounts, wire transfers, business/real estate ownership, etc.

Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC)

Investors from countries such as Iran, Iraq, Syria may require a clearance letter from OFAC saying that their money was not obtained through illegal funds.

Due Diligence – Source of Funds

Thank You For Coming!Questions?

Garmo & Garmo, LLP124 W. Main St., Ste. 200

El Cajon, CA 92020

Phone: (619) 441-2500Fax: (619) 631-6444

Web: www.garmolaw.com