CanAm: The Track Record Behind One of the Most Established EB-5 Regional Centers for U.S. Green Card Investors
June 21, 2024 · EB-5 · 9 min read
Choosing an established, experienced regional center is one of the most consequential decisions you will make before starting a U.S. green card application. For investors comparing the most successful EB-5 regional centers, CanAm is a name that belongs in the conversation.
“The greatest proof of our success is our immigrant investors who have successfully immigrated to the United States and created many jobs and economic benefits for the U.S.” That comment from Tom Rosenfeld, Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and President of CanAm Enterprises, which operates the CanAm regional centers, speaks to the position the firm has built in the EB-5 industry.
The regional center is central to any EB-5 U.S. green card investment. More than 90% of EB-5 investors go through a regional center, both for what it adds to the immigration petition and for the prospect of having their capital repaid. Choosing an established, experienced regional center is therefore one of the most consequential decisions you will make before starting a U.S. green card application, and no discussion of regional centers in the EB-5 program would be complete without mentioning CanAm.
A long-standing name in the EB-5 industry
Founded in 1987, CanAm has more than 30 years of experience sponsoring investment migration projects. In its early years it concentrated on Canada’s business immigration programs. From 2001 it shifted its focus to the EB-5 program in the United States. In 2003 CanAm’s first regional center was designated, with its first EB-5 project at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Across more than 20 years since, CanAm’s own published record lists the following milestones:
- The first conditional green card and the first unconditional green card issued to a CanAm investor.
- More than 6,500 immigrant investors from 88 countries.
- More than 5,200 Form I-526 and I-526E petitions approved, and more than 15,400 conditional green cards issued.
- More than 2,600 Form I-829 petitions approved, and more than 8,400 unconditional green cards issued.
- More than US$3.1 billion raised for 65 EB-5 projects.
- US$2.27 billion of EB-5 capital repaid to EB-5 investors across 51 projects.
- The largest single-project repayment in the history of the EB-5 program: US$350 million returned to 700 EB-5 investors in the Brightline high-speed rail project.
- More than 100,000 qualifying jobs created for Americans.
- More than US$15 billion contributed to the U.S. economy.
Figures on that scale are rare in the investment migration industry. Behind them, by CanAm’s own description, is a deliberate approach: selecting partners carefully, offering projects that meet program requirements, and reporting to investors in full. CanAm is also among the small group of regional centers that commission an annual independent attestation of their track record: an outside accounting firm, working to the attestation standards of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), reviews the number of EB-5 petitions filed, the number of Form I-526, I-526E, and I-829 petitions approved, the number of visas issued, and the number of investors and the amount of capital repaid. Investors can also reach the documents that matter — quarterly reports, financial statements, USCIS notices, and regional center updates — through an online investor portal.
As of February 2024, CanAm operated and managed 10 USCIS-designated regional centers spanning 36 states.
How CanAm selects its EB-5 projects
Looking ahead, CanAm intends to keep bringing new projects to market across hospitality, industry, manufacturing, and commercial real estate — with the aim of helping investors seeking U.S. residency succeed while delivering the economic benefit to the United States that the U.S. government intended when it created the EB-5 program.
Experience shows in project selection. CanAm looks for EB-5 projects that both support a strong immigration petition and offer credible prospects for repayment. Guided by a stated principle of selecting “only projects we would invest in with our own families,” CanAm says each of its EB-5 projects is structured to meet EB-5 program requirements before it reaches the market and is put through full due diligence on the conditions it needs to succeed — work intended to reduce the risks investors are exposed to later in the process. Under U.S. law, EB-5 capital must remain at risk throughout the investment.
EB-5 projects for which CanAm has raised and managed the EB-5 capital, and which IMM Group has partnered to present to investors, include:
- Jefferson Energy Terminal — an oil and gas storage and transportation facility
- The NFE Green Hydrogen Plant
- Expansion of a manufacturing facility for U.S. Navy nuclear submarine components — Rhoads Industries III
- The Spiral, a 66-story office tower in Manhattan
For investor families, a well-chosen project from an established regional center such as CanAm is a key part of the journey. Alongside choosing the right regional center and project, investors also need an advisory firm that can prepare the strongest possible petition and stay with the family through every stage of the EB-5 process.
If you are considering a U.S. green card through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, contact IMM Group or leave your details below. Our experienced advisors will provide detailed guidance and help assess the prospects of your case. We will keep your personal data confidential and use the information you provide only to advise on your family’s case.
- Tags:
- U.S. immigration
- CanAm
- EB-5 projects
- U.S. green card
- EB-5 U.S. green card
- CanAm regional center
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