Central to the application process for EB-5 Regional Center designation as well as the confirmation of job creation and resulting revenues generated from a specific project is the economic analysis. Wright Johnson combines economic theory with statistics to analyze and test economic relationships.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Division of the Department of Homeland Security (USCIS) is responsible for Regional Center designation and the overseeing of the projects undertaken through the Regional Center. USCIS must accept and validate the findings of the Wright Johnson team as to the requisite number of US jobs that will be created and the financial projections that show the project will attain their goals for Regional Center designation and/or a specific project to proceed.
The economic impact studies confirm the jobs projected to be created are feasible given the economic and demographic information presented.
The USCIS must be “comfortable” with not only the methodology used but with the expertise of the economist that must have the “hands on” experience to properly manipulate the complex matrix sets and the many variables that when inputted to the economic and demographic data pertinent to the specifics of the project realistically quantify the information resulting in a high degree of confidence in the eventual outcome.
Two methodologies that are “approved” by the USCIS of which Wright Johnson is expert at include IMPLAN and RIMS II.
IMPLAN & RIMS II
Wright Johnson uses both IMPLAN and RIMS II for EB-5 Applications.
The IMPLAN methodology is widely considered the industry standard. IMPLAN is used by such private and public entities as Dean Runyan Associates, Wa-lMart, the State of California, and the US Government. Excellent examples of the diversity of organizations that have a need for the detailed analysis this program provides. An important advantage of IMPLAN over the other methodologies, as it impacts you the applicant for regional center approval, is the customizability and multi regional analysis that is available in IMPLAN.
The RIMS II methodology is widely used in the EB-5 world. RIMS II is a simpilar methodology and is the only methodology that USCIC adjudicators can replicate. Wright Johnson team member Michael Evans has completed over 200 RIMS II studies for EB-5 clients. An important advantage of RIMS II over the other methodologies, as it impacts you the applicant for regional center approval, is generally higher multipliers in the construction industry sector.
ABOUT IMPLAN
The IMPLAN system is a menu-driven microcomputer program that performs complex calculations in the methods and assumptions used to generate social accounts and Input/Output multipliers. The software performs the necessary calculations, using the study area data, to create the models. The system allows users to make in-depth examinations of regional, state, multi-county, county or sub-county economies.
The IMPLAN data and accounts closely follow the accounting conventions used in the “Input/Output Study of the U.S. Economy” by the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the rectangular format recommended by the United Nations.
Comprehensive and detailed data coverage of the entire U.S. by county and the ability to incorporate user supplied data at each stage of the model building process provides a high degree of flexibility both in terms of geographic coverage and model formulation.
ABOUT RIMS II
There are numerous advantages to using RIMS II. First, the accessibility of the main data sources makes it possible to estimate regional multipliers without conducting relatively expensive surveys.
Second, the level of industrial detail used in RIMS II helps avoid aggregation errors, which often occur when industries are combined.
Third, RIMS II multipliers can be compared across areas because they are based on a consistent set of estimating procedures nationwide. Fourth, RIMS II multipliers are updated to reflect the most recent local-area wage-and-salary and personal income data.
Again, the intertwining of the different areas of the EB-5 process produces the Wright Johnson “complete solution”. Research, economic impact studies, document preparation, marketing, investor acquisition and government reporting. |
