Comment: All Countries Are Not Equal

Lets begin with an anecdote: We once talked to an EB5 developer who has raised hundreds of EB5 investments from China. He complained that the Chinese agents he has worked with told him that they have seen interest in EB5 dry out. He said, "Oh, That's not a problem--I will simply go to Cambodia instead of China and get my investors from there." We were aghast, because the statement implied a complete lack of understanding of the real massive differences that exist between countries.
The fundamentals to look for when choosing a country for an EB5 raise are the following: Population, GDP, GDP per Capita, Number of HNWs in the country and Number of HNWs leaving the country per year.
Country China Cambodia
Population 1.4 Billion 15 Million
GDP $14 Trillion $26 Billion
GDP per Capita $10,000 $1,600
Number of HNWs in Country 4.4 Million ?
Number of HNWs leaving per year 15,000 per year ?
These objective measurements for a country matter. If a country does not have a sufficient number of HNWs and they do not have any reason to leave, then no matter how energetic the efforts made to secure EB5 investors in a country, it will not result in a meaningful number of wires.
Similarly, when trying to estimate one's own connections in a country, one should use objective measurements such as do you already have a productive network of agents in the country that has actually delivered at least a small number of wires to you--instead of using subjective factors like I have some connections with important people in the country.
Fundamentals matter - and it is fundamentals that make countries unequal for EB5 purposes. The number of countries in the EB5 world is very very small - a subset of a subset - due to the fundamentals that shape these countries EB5 outflow.

ILW estimates the 2020 EB5 market to be more than $1 billion. If you are raising EB5 capital in 2020, we have identified a very small number of specific opportunities in the new EB5 market. Contact us for a conversation on what we can do for you in this brave new EB5 world by emailing us at webmaster@ilw.com, calling us at 212-545-0818 or online.

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Focus: 5 EB5 Countries

The EB5 market overseas has shrunk from 11 to just 5 countries, due to the increase of investment amounts from $500K to $900K. These 5 markets are now the only markets large enough to support just 10 wires per year for most issuers, making them the only realistic choices for issuers of even modest-sized raises. ILW can help you in some of these markets. Call us at 212-545-0818 to find out about these 5 markets, and how we can help you there, or email us at webmaster@ilw.com or online.

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