Hundreds of Latin American families take advantage of this opportunity to receive their Green Card and do business in the United States.
By Adriel Reyes Gonzalez/MiamiDiario
With over 20 years of experience, Julian Montero is an experienced attorney with the firm Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr in Miami who each year assists clients with general business and transactional matters, including corporate structuring, business planning, mergers and acquisitions, cross-border transactions, and financial matters.
One of the areas of expertise of lawyer Julián Montero is the EB-5 visa program. For this reason, he regularly advises foreign investors on strategies to successfully acquire or establish businesses in the United States.
Montero represents foreign investors who apply for the EB-5 visa through real estate investments. The EB-5 visa program requires the investor to form a corporation to carry out the investment. Julián also represents US clients seeking to raise capital and attract foreign investment.
Due to the popularity of this topic and the growing interest of Latin American investors in this program, Miami Diario interviewed attorney Julian Montero:
What is the EB-5 visa program and how does it help families living outside the US to immigrate legally?
The EB-5 visa program has two fundamental aspects: increase foreign investment with the aim of creating jobs; and make it easier for foreign investors and their families to obtain a Green Card (or permanent residence) and eventually their American citizenship.
What is the status of this program in Congress?
Today the program is still valid and very active, especially for Latin America. In the last four years, Congress has renewed this program in short-term periods, from 4 to 6 months.
What is the period of time that a family must wait for the EB-5 visa program 
to get your Green Card?
It is really very difficult to specify because each case is unique for the United States Immigration service, but, in general, most of the cases that we treat in our office obtain this benefit after 2 years. It is the time when families, husband and wife and children under the age of 21, obtain their permanent residence in the United States.
How much money must these investors bring to the United States to be accepted into the EB-5 visa program?
When this program was born in 1990, it established an amount of $500.000 or one million dollars, depending on the situation of the area where the investment is made. Today the amount remains the same, but if we take into account inflation and other factors, we can say that it is cheaper to obtain permanent residence in the United States.
Is this a good time to apply for visas through the EB-5 visa program. especially if you reside in Latin America?
It is a special moment due to the great interest of developers from the United States interested in attracting investors from Latin America and I imagine that members of the audience will have seen advertisements in newspapers and events are also being developed in Mexico, Buenos Aires, among other locations. Developers are devoting a lot of resources to educating investors in the region.
Every year we serve approximately 150 families interested in investing through the EB-5 visa program and I would say that 70 or 80 are from Latin America. Venezuela remains one of those countries, in addition to Mexico, Argentina, and Chile.
Investing, even in the United States, has a risk. Are there ways to minimize it?
Any investment in any country has risk. Anyone who wishes to make an investment, especially when such an important amount is being discussed, should obtain the assistance of experienced advisors who can assist them in measuring and analyzing whether the projects are structured in an appropriate way to mitigate the risk associated with this process. .
Why select a corporate lawyer like Julián Montero to achieve success in the 
obtaining a Green Card through the EB-5 visa program?
In my practice I have been helping foreign families for more than 23 years coordinating corporate issues, tax issues and immigration issues for executives or investors. the signature Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr, founded in 1893, it has a very robust commercial activity. Our Miami office has a team dedicated to assisting investors. The reason why a family considering applying for an EB-5 program visa should work with a business lawyer is very simple: the investment is made in a corporate business context. The investor is going to receive a very high level of very sophisticated and technical corporate documents that need someone experienced to process them. Tax preparation is very important so that these families pay less taxes.
Enjoy the full interview in this video
Attorney Julian Montero discusses the secrets to getting your Green Card with an EB-5 visa while Celebrity Event Planner Melissa Betancourt shares details on Miami party trends. Don't miss the show...
Posted by MiamiDiary on Wednesday, July 10, 2019
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