SAN FRANCISCO, CA, U.S.A. - This new Program is a potential revenue stream for many WTCA members. WTC San Francisco’s first major program was to pair with India’s WTC Noida on holding an immigration seminar in Delhi. This was a pilot program to check on the potential for working together to attract investors into the US Government’s EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa program

As a pilot program it was very successful. This holds great promise as being a program that other WTCs can use as a significant funding source for themselves too.
Under the EB-5 visa program, high net worth families who want to immigrate to the US can do so if they invest a minimum of $500,000 into qualified investments offered by US regional centers. This program, when done successfully, leads to the investor and family obtaining green cards (ability to work/live in the US and to eventually become a citizen if they wish). WTC San Francisco’s owner has raised over $200 million via this program for US infrastructure projects. WTC San Francisco will pay partner WTCs a fee for each investor that the local WTC finds for this program. 

Photo above: WTC Noida Associate Director, Khair Ull Nissa, left, with WTC San Francisco President Anthony Hemstad.

A seminar was held in New Delhi on 25 February 2014 in conjunction with the Federation of Indian Export Organizations (FIEO). WTC San Francisco President Anthony Hemstad presented generally about immigration topics and specifically on the EB-5 program. WTC Noida Associate Director Khair Ull Nissa also presented as did a local immigration attorney and FIEO officials. 

The program and follow-up meetings in the days after the seminar led to three signed Letters of Interest to invest in an EB-5 program. Generating three potentially serious investors from this pilot program shows the very significant potential that this idea has for WTCs in India and in many other countries as well. Noida and San Francisco will be working more on this program in the months to come and encourages other WTCs to take part in it as well. 

Hemstad also travelled to Mumbai and signed WTC San Francisco’s first MoU with Vijay Kalantri and WTC Mumbai. San Francisco will work to put together a group to attend WTC Mumbai’s Global Economic Summit in Mumbai in September 2014. Hemstad would likely then also do more immigration seminars with partner WTCs in India.

For more information on this article, please contact Anthony Hemstad, WTC San Francisco, at anthony@wtc-sf.com.