RCI FirstPathway Weblog

RCI FirstPathway Partners was honored to host Kevin Yuan of Nanjing, China this week.  During his visit Mr. Yuan met with high level MMAC officials to discuss EB5. Yuan also toured projects and areas of development throughout the region including The Pabst City Development, The Menomonee Valley and others. RCI FirstPathway Partners looks forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Yuan and Qiaoye Investment Consulting Co.,Ltd.

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Over 100 invited guests gathered to mark the addition of the Aloft Hotel to Milwaukee’s river walk, during a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday, December 17th 2009. Distinguished speakers included  Department of City Development Commissioner  Rocky Marcoux, Alderman Nik Kovac, Antonio Riley of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and Aloft officials.

The Aloft Hotel- Milwaukee is a pending project in RCI FirstPathway Partners (RCIFPP) EB5 fund portfolio. “The Aloft project has the perfect combination of investors, underwriters and management, combined with city, county, state and federal government financial support. It creates a big win for the City of Milwaukee.” Commented Bob Kraft CEO of RCI FirstPathway Partners.

The Aloft, a brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is located downtown at 1230 N. Old World Third St., in the Park East corridor. It is the first Aloft location in southeastern Wisconsin. The completed five-story, 160-room hotel in downtown Milwaukee  features 5,000 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center, an indoor pool overlooking the riverwalk and the Wxyz Bar in the lobby/lounge area. Nearby attractions include the Milwaukee River, The Bradley Center (home of the Milwaukee Bucks) and trendy local bars/restaurants.

“(The Aloft) brings with it the much-needed concept of affordable, chic accommodations for the contemporary business traveler and vacationer.” Dave Johnson, President and CEO of Aimbridge Hospitality “We are pleased to introduce Starwood’s newest urban-boutique lifestyle brand to a market that has been greatly underserved.”

According to RCIFPP’s USCIS approved job creation methodology, The Aloft Hotel will create 471 direct and indirect jobs.  “RCIFPP is proud to have this internationally recognized property in its EB5 Citizenship Fund portfolio,” – Bob Kraft.

The Grand Opening is to be held in January of 2010.

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Congress has approved legislation to extend the EB5 “investor visa” program 3 years as part of the DHS FY2010 Appropriations Bill.

This will extend the EB-5 Visa Program through October 1, 2012.

Last week PSA in conjunction with RCI FirstPathway Partners hosted a seminar on EB5 at the Makati Shangri-la Hotel in Manila. This marks the first of many successful seminars in the Philippines.

During his stay RCIFPP, VP of Compliance, Dan Wycklendt also visited  agents throughout the area.

The EB-5 Regional Center Program is on its way to being temporarily extended until October 31st 2009.  At 11:33 am today the house voted on a Conference Report which included legislation to enact a one month continuing resolution for the EB5 Regional Center program.  Many forecast that congress will uses this extension as a bridge during the development of a permanent program.

On Wednesday, July 22, 2009 the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “Promoting Job Creation and Foreign Investment in the United States: An Assessment of the EB-5 Regional Center Program.”

Panelists before the committee included Robert F. Kruszka Deputy Chief of USCIS Service Center Operations, Michael T. Dougherty Former USCIS Ombudsman and our colleague, EB5 expert Stephen Yale-Loehr.

The tone of the meeting was very positive with the majority of the meeting revolving around program improvement and ways to encourage investor confidence. This is great news for the EB5 program.

Watch the web cast online

Note the first 21min 50sec is blank (title page).

The Senate adopted an amendment to make the EB-5 Regional Center pilot program permanent in Washington, Wednesday July, 8 2009. This strongly supported bipartisan program is slated to expire in September of this year.

In a press release issued by the amendment’s sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) commented on the importance of the EB5 program stating “This program must be made permanent if it is to achieve its potential as an economic engine in our communities… Authorizing the program for only months or a few years at a time sends the wrong message to individuals who want to make a permanent commitment to the United States. ”

This amendment is forecasted to significantly grow confidence among immigrant investors.

Read Senator Patrick Leahy’s Press Release

June 8th through the 10th thousands of people from around the world visited the International Trade Conference Pavilion in Ningbo for The Zhejiang Investment & Trade Symposium, among those in attendance was RCI FirstPathway Partners. The Zhejiang Investment & Trade Symposium serves to encourage exchanges and discussion between companies in the Zhejiang province and overseas investment promotion organizations such as Economic Cooperation Zones, and sister cities like Milwaukee.

During the conference RCI FirstPathway executives attended a lunches hosted by The Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office, The Ningbo Foreign Trade and Cooperation Bureau, The Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office and The Xiangshan Municipal Government. Topics for the meetings included future cooperation, gift exchange, visits, and promotion of the EB5 program.

On the final day of the conference RCI FirstPathway executives attended “Presentation on Investment in the US” a conference jointly held by Council of American States in China (CASIC) and the City of Ningbo.  During this conference RCI FirstPathway Representative Young Shen was honored to present “Investor Immigration: New Developments and the EB5 Immigration Process” to hundreds of attendees.

While in Ningbo executives also met with the Bank of China & local immigration agents.

RCI FirstPathway representatives introduced agents and staff to their comprehensive customer focused EB5 platform, Tuesday, June 2^nd in preparation of the RCI Capital Group, FirstPathway Partners global EB5 venture. CEO Bob Kraft and VP Dan Wycklendt were warmly welcomed by executive Brian Kim at the RCI FirstPathway branch office in Seoul, Korea. The partnership then met with multiple agents within RCI FirstPathway’s vast network of experienced, licensed Korean agencies. Training continued at the Westin Bund Center in Shanghai, with over 30 staff members in attendance, in addition to senior management including Bob Kraft, Scott Harrison, Sylvain Payette and John Park.

Over forty high-profile investors attended a conference on EB-5 investments hosted by Bob Kraft and agents, Andy Liu, Jane & Felix Wang of Donghu on Thursday, March 26th through the 29th.  Seminar topics included: the joys of immigrating to the U.S., a global survey of citizenship investment programs and the benefits of taking advantage of FirstPathway Partners’ Citizenship Fund.  This fruitful trip did not only yield several applicants but also served to solidify partnerships with our world-class agent network.

While in China, Mr. Kraft also enjoyed a trip to The Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) on the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Rail where he visited the expansion sites and learned about the ongoing city developments.

Bob would furthermore like to commend all of the staff at First Pathway Partners Shanghai for their impeccable service standards and hospitality.