Over 10 years, the Award-winning Houston EB5 has provided opportunities for over 350 immigrants to gain legal permanent residency through the EB5 visa program by creating qualified and competitive real estate investments in Texas.
The EB5 Visa program is administered by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Houston EB5, who has developed over $1 billion in real estate and has completed the entire lifecycle of the program from capital investment, issuance of green cards to return of capital and profits. The newest investment offering with Moderno Porcelain Works is designed to successfully benefit from these changes.
In 2019, the United States government implemented changes to the EB-5 Investor Program as part of a comprehensive EB-5 modernization law passed by Congress. The most notable change was the increase in the minimum investment amounts from $500,000 to $900,000 for Targeted Employment Area (TEA) investments and $1 million to $1.8 million for non-Targeted Employment Area (TEA) investments. These and many other changes have affected the way investors approach the EB5 Investment.However, a new hope was birthed this January 2021, when the U.S President Joe Biden signed an executive order ending the travel ban on citizens from more than a dozen countries, including Nigeria.
Speaking at the Moderno Factory walkthrough in Houston with Ruth Obih, the CEO, 3INVEST. Acho Azuike, Managing Director, Houston EB5 said “By eliminating the travel ban on Nigeria and a dozen more countries, Nigerians are no longer in limbo wondering what will happen once their EB5 petitions are approved. Since the ban was in effect, some Nigerians were sitting on the sidelines because of the uncertainty, but now can feel confident about the future of EB5.”
“This is great news for African investors when it comes to EB-5 investment,” said 3Invest Chief Executive Officer, Ruth Obih. “With the travel ban lifted, this new investment opportunity allows for immediate investment, flexible investment terms, a limited number of investors, and is backed by a corporate guarantee. With the increase in the minimum EB-5 investment amount, along with political uncertainties in our countries, travel bans, and a global pandemic, people have been concerned about investing.
But, for those who understand this new offering, this is a great opportunity – and the time is now.” Speaking on the newest investment opportunity offered from Houston EB-5 – Moderno Porcelain Works. Azuike said “In the past, we have seen major real estate developments brought about through EB-5 investment opportunities. While these types of projects have been hugely successful for us, we are offering a different type of investment opportunity for those investors not interested in large real estate development projects.
“Our new offering through Moderno Porcelain Works is an operational business versus a large-scale real estate project. We will have 3-4 investors for each operational center. Therefore, offering a more personalized investment opportunity and smaller capital raise to begin each project. Additionally, another attractive aspect of the new opportunity is that returns are paid yearly instead of being accrued.” Moderno Porcelain Works is a growing fabrication and installation company specializing in large format porcelain. The company has established operational centers in industrial areas just outside the metropolitan areas that are designated TEAs. These operational centers serve as sales galleries, offices, training centers, as well as a material warehouses and state-of-the-art fabrication facilities. These types of developments do not need to be in a prime location to be an attractive real estate investment opportunity because the end-user, the customer, can live anywhere in the metropolitan area and be serviced from this location and support a successful business operation over the long term.
It’s a no brainer to invest in Moderno says Obih, with a 5-year loan term, better returns paid yearly, capital repayment backed by a strong corporate guarantee and Maximum of 4 Investors makes it one of the safest EB5 projects available” This type of operational business model is the future of EB5 investing. The operational business allows for fewer investors to reach the capital investment amount resulting in a quicker project start time versus that of large real estate development.
Additionally, an operational business with strong underlying fundamentals, like Moderno Porcelain Works, can also offer an investment payment plan to address the increase of investment requirements under the new law. “The outcome of our elections has also had an impact on investor uncertainty,” said Azuike. “Under the new administration, there is a growing census that travel bans will be eased.
However, the minimum investment amount will not change without sweeping immigration reform which is not expected in the near future. That is why we looked at our type of investment offerings and developed a new type of investment model that will address the increase and offer more security with the corporate guarantee.” Moderno Porcelain Works currently has four operational centers in Texas, Florida, and Minneapolis. EB-5 Houston completed the raise for three additional locations with plans to expand to a total of 60 cities by 2025.
Houston EB-5 was founded in 2010 to help international investors gain permanent United States residency in return for making a qualified real estate investment. Certified by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as an EB-5 Regional Center, Houston EB5 has more than 25 years of real estate experience and is currently celebrating over 10 years in the EB5 industry.
