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Unknown (00:00):
This is Cliff
central.com. There are a lot of
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South Africans and people fromall over the world who are
looking at making their way intothe US economy and making
themselves either in some way apocket taker or a participant in
in the US economy. Of course,it's booming, and Donald Trump,
whether Europe, Donald Trump fanor not, and lots of people are
also looking at ways to becomeinvolved in the biggest economy
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in the world. Dan Wicklund, iswith us. He is the Executive
Vice President of first pathwaypartners, and I'm sure he's
going to answer a lot of ourquestions today. His favorite
color is blue. That's veryimportant, right, then
it's extremely important. Greatto be with you.
Dan, please tell us quickly whatfirst pathway partners is. Yeah,
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so first pathway partners is aregional center based in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And foryour listeners, I can pretty
much guess that most of themdon't know where Milwaukee,
Wisconsin is. It's kind of rightin the center of the United
States on the northern border.
So we are in the Great Lakesarea, we border Lake Michigan,
which is abeautiful lake and especially
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this time of year in the summer,the weather here is absolutely
beautiful. Sometimes in thewinter, it can get a little
cold. But we're about a an hournorth of Chicago, so very easy
area to get to being close toChicago. Milwaukee is about a
million and a half people in themetro area, so decent sized city
in the US. Andfirst pathway partners
specializesin the EB five program, which is
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a way to get citizenship andgreen cars for foreigners. And
we've been doing it for over adecade now.
Well, let's just stick with withfirst pathway partners for a
second, where did the companycome from? And what's the what's
the story of first pathway.
So my partner Bob Kraft, and ourchairman founded the company
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over a decade ago. And, youknow, it originally was a driver
to get more foreign investmentinto the Milwaukee area. Again,
being that not many foreignersknow where Milwaukee is, it was
a way to give them that extralittle carrot it takes to invest
in the Milwaukee area, andobtain a green card for their
family. So we started outmarketing, especially in Asia,
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South Korea and China, we haveoffices there. But over the
years, we spread to over 40countries now that we have
investors from and most of themin the Milwaukee area. So it's
been a really good driver for ushere in getting investment to
Milwaukee. And even with theeconomy in the US as good as it
is right now.
It's still great to bring moreforeign investment
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here to create jobs, and drivethe economy.
Yeah, it's interesting that somany people all over the world
are trying to get them theirmoney into the US economy and
trying to invest in usbusinesses and US companies and
in US stock markets. I think fora lot of people, it's still the
best bet, if you have made somemoney, and you want to put it
somewhere where you candiversify and also have
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something secure.
Yeah, without a doubt, I mean,our stock market for sure that
the global market sees that it'son a roll. You know, we're
almost at three and a halfpercent unemployment, which is
really unheard of around theworld. So it's been a big thing
for foreigners to see that theycan come here that they can
bring their families here,invest invest in their future,
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you know, financially and alsofor their families safety and
security. And that's what'sreally driven our program and
investment program that getspeople their green card. It's
driven it through the rooflately, the EB five program has
grown exponentially, especiallyover the past decade because of
those things.
Alright, so let's get into thedetail of this Eb five. I've
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heard people talking about this.
I'm not 100% sure what it is.
Can you fill me in? Yeah,yeah. And it's, it's, it's a
confusing program for sound. Butwhat we've done it first pathway
partners has made it simple. Theprogram has been around since
1990. So it's not a new programby any means. And most developed
countries around the world havea similar program. And what it
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does is it allows foreigners tomake an investment to create
jobs. And for that they get agreen card. Now there is risk
involved. So you know, a typicalforeigner would invest 500 k in
a qualified project, that's500,000 US dollars. So, you
know, I think that's a littlemore than 7 million Rand. So
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what they do is they invest thatthey have to create at least 10
jobs and that's something thatwe take care of for them. So we
structure these projects, wemake sure the proper job
creation is there to qualifytheir family for a green card.
And they place that money atrisk in that project to create
those jobs and for that they andtheir immediate family. So that
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covers a husband, a wife andchildren under the age of 21 and
unmarried. It gets them all agreen card. Well and as it as a
green card holder, you haveaccess to the entire country
which has been fantastic forpeople
and that means you can live andwork in the United States.
Yeah, absolutely. And you canlive anywhere. So, you know, as
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I said earlier, our our programis in Milwaukee, we've done
projects in California as well.
But they don't have to livewhere these projects are
located, they can live anywherein the US a green card gets you
full access to the country. Andmost of the same benefits that I
get in my children get ascitizens. So you can live where
you want, you can work, you cantravel, pretty much anything,
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even your the kids of ourinvestors, the children get
educational benefits, whateverstate they located, they can get
resident in state tuition. Andthe beauty of this program is
you are investing your money,and it is an investment. But at
the end of the day, if theproject goes as planned, you're
also going to get your moneyback. And for them, investing
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money, getting the green card,and ultimately getting their
money back makes this a prettyeasy decision for some people.
Now, what what are the otherways to get green cards? And why
are they so difficult? Why is itso hard to get a green card?
Yeah, so you're probably askingthe wrong person here. Because,
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you know, we found that it'stough to get green cards any
other way. So that's why wefocus on the EB five program,
right. But, you know, over thepast few years, all the other
different ways that used toexist to get access to the US
have kind of dried up. Andthat's one of the reasons that
the EB five program has becomeso popular, you know, allowing
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for an investment to get thegreen card has still been a
popular option. You know, wehave a lot of different issues
politically that people don'tget along on. But Eb five is one
that both sides, both politicalparties seem to agree on that
it's good for our economy. We'regetting good investors here,
people that want to contributeto the US. So the program
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continues, and it continues tobe a great way to get access to
the country.
Yeah, and I think it's probablyinteresting to a lot of people
to notice that, that even thoughthe administration has changed
from Democrat or Republican todemocrat to Republican, it
doesn't really affect this,because people in the USA happy
to see money being invested injobs being created, right?
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Yeah, absolutely. And not onlydoes that
$500,000 come in, get investedin projects to create jobs. But
these people move over here,they start businesses, they
work, they buy houses spendmoney, they send their kids to
school, you know, these arepeople with a long term vision
of participating in the UnitedStates and what we've created
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here, and we're happy tohave them.
Now then, what what happens tothe money, you said it gets
invested in businesses overthere, and you help to figure
that out, and you will help tocreate the jobs? How do you
choose those those projects? Andhow, how good how safe is
people's money? I mean, youknow, you don't go and put it in
a casino, right?
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If if the casino was a greatinvestment, you never know. I
mean, there have been casinos inin Eb five, but it's not them
putting it on the roulettetable, it's investing in the
real estate. So, you know,typically we'll look at hundreds
of different projects, and we'llvet them for their suitability
first, for Eb five, job creationis important because without the
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proper job creation, peopledon't get their green card. So
first, we make sure that theseprojects qualify for that.
Second, though, we look at theirfinancial suitability that they
are going to be able to returnthis investment because what we
want for our investors is tofirst accomplish their
immigration goals, get them intheir family here to the US, but
then also get their money back.
And we've been very fortunatewe've been successful in our
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first project. So far, we'vereturned money to our investors,
and that's been important tothem, that's helped drive us
forward as a regional center.
Because there's a lot of optionsin the US, but to be able to
accomplish the immigration goalsfor our investors, and on top of
that, get their money back tothem has made us very
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successful.
Then this almost as a question,I don't need you to answer but I
want to hear it from you. Whatmakes this so attractive to
South Africans?
Well, you know, it's the samething for South Africans that we
see in a lot of differentcountries. You know, I think
South Africa has, you know,about 60 million people now. The
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US has 300 and 30 million, butas far as population density,
you know, the US has a lot ofspread out, you know, we have a
lot of different states a lot ofdifferent opportunities, and a
lot of different options forpeople. So, you know, South
Africans look at America andthey say, okay, you know, I have
a big country, I have a lot ofopportunity. And what the US
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offers is safety, security. Youknow, I talked about the low
unemployment. These are allthings that drive anyone to
America. And, you know, we have,you know, the beauty of America
is it was created around theconstitution that allows us
things like property rights ofvoices. in government. And
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ultimately, with all the issueswe have here in the US, we found
that around the world, they palein comparison. And that's what's
driven people here. You know,ultimately, the US is a major
destination. And it's notreally, for adults, it's for
their children, you know, mostof our investors have kids. And
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ultimately, they're looking tothe future and wanting to know
that as they grow old as theymove on, so are their kids, and
they want to have a brightfuture for them. And they and
they see that in the US.
Yeah, I've got a friend wholives in Houston, I've got
another friend who's is inSeattle, there are loads of
South Africans who are movingover there at the moment, you
guys obviously deal with a lotof them.
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Yeah, we do. And it's funny, youmentioned Houston, because, you
know, Houston has been alocation that a lot of our South
African clients want to move toa lot of that comes from, it's
what you know, you know, peoplehave friends and family there,
like you say, you have friendsthere. And it's really been
getting them here in largenumbers. And in fact, what's
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nice about South Africa, iscompared to some other
countries, there's no waitingline to get through Eb five, you
know, some of the countries Imentioned, we started off in
earlier like China, Vietnam,these countries, it's been so
popular that there's a linethat's formed to get your visa
to get your green card. Butthere is no line for South
Africa. So as fast as theseapplications can be processed by
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the government, South Africanscan get entrance into the
country and located in placeslike Houston, Seattle, maybe
Milwaukee, if they don't mindthe cold. But, you know, there's
a lot of different options forthem. And they can get in
quickly this way, which is nice.
citizenship, is that a differentdiscussion. I mean, a green card
doesn't mean you become acitizen.
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No, not automatically. And, andthat's what's nice about Eb five
is it gives people options. Youknow, a green card, you can do
everything a citizen can exceptvote and hold some certain
government jobs. Other thanthat, everything's pretty much
open to you obviously, don't getthe passport unless you get
citizenship. But the nice thingabout Eb five is it does allow
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that option as a green cardholder, five years after you
first get your green card. Aslong as you is you spent half of
that time in the US, you canqualify for citizenship and
obviously have to take a test,you know, test, you can study
for some of the questions Imight even have trouble with at
this point. But at the end ofthe day, it is an option. People
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do choose that. But it's up tothe individuals, it depends on
what country they're from, youknow, they may be happy with the
passport they have. But youknow, the US passport ultimately
does allow visa free travel to alot of countries. So ultimately,
people may go for that, but theydon't have to. Another thing to
keep in mind for people is, youknow, and one thing I found the
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South African clients, it'sdifferent than other countries
is when you do get a green card,you are part of the US global
tax system. But what I foundfrom South Africans is, in
general, they're not too upsetabout that. I know, in South
Africa, taxes have been reallygoing up over the past years.
And and that's been a big driverfor them actually coming over to
the US.
Right? I'm not gonna give you acitizenship test. I think it
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might be bad for both of us. Butthis is very useful. This is
very useful information. I thinkthere are probably loads of
South Africans who are lookingat their options. At the moment.
I think a lot of people want tobecome citizens of the world. I
think a lot of people want to goto places where they aren't
going to be taxed into oblivion.
I think people also want toparticipate in the world's
biggest economy. And in acountry that, as you already
mentioned, has got such lowunemployment and and such great,
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you know, market signals at themoment. So this is very, very
helpful information. All right,Dan, how do we how do we go
about contacting you?
Yeah, we have a great website.
It's www dot first pathway.com.
That's si rst PATHWAY, mycontact informations on there.
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And we'd love to hear fromanybody you know, whether they
have questions about the US theEB five program, you know, about
blue, my favorite color, I'mwilling to participate in
anything and we love helpingpeople out.
That's brilliant. All right,Dan, thank you so much. This is
very useful information. I thinka lot of people find it very
helpful, especially if they'realready thinking about these
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things. Because for a lot ofpeople, it's quite overwhelming
to try and figure this out onyour own. So it's good to know
there are people who can helpyou do that. And we will be in
contact. There we go. DanWicklund, is the he's the he's
the guy. You heard. He's theperson to talk to the Executive
Vice President, and he's atfirst pathway partners. Thank
you so much, Dan. Thanks, Gary.
This is Cliff central.com.