EB-5 Investing A Quick Reference Guide about the EB-5 Program
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How to use this Quick Reference Guide This guide is intended to quickly educate on the most important aspects of the EB-5 program to our audience, including foreign investors, domestic entrepreneurs trying to raise funds under the EB-5 program, immigration attorneys entering into the space, or starting Regional Centers. The content presented in this guide is somewhat introductory but comprehensive, providing links to additional resources and documentation that will help the reader to quickly learn critical aspects of the program independently and in an unbiased way. The content of this guide is presented in seven different sections that may or may not apply to the specific situation of the reader. Because of this, the reader is welcome to skip some of these sections to quickly learn about the items of interest. Each section provides a few relevant references to continue reading beyond the content here presented. Additionally, the last section provides with some of the best sources for EB-5 content available on-line. Any questions, feedback, or requests for additional information may be directed to the author via e-mail. We hope you enjoy the content.
This Quick Reference guide is good for:
Foreign Investors contemplating the EB-5 program to invest in the U.S.
Domestic Developers seeking to raise capital using the EB-5 program
Regional Centers looking into hosting an EB-5 project
Immigration Attorneys looking to expand their practice into the EB-5 space
EB-5 Practitioners
Table of Contents I.
How to use this Quick Reference Guide ...............................................................1
II.
Summary of the EB-5 Program ............................................................................. 3
III.
EB-5 Direct Investment ........................................................................................ 5
IV.
EB-5 Investment through Regional Centers ........................................................ 6
V.
Fulfilling the Job Creation Requirements ............................................................. 7
VI.
Targeted Employment Areas ................................................................................ 8
VII. What Domestic Developers Should Know ........................................................... 10 VIII. What Foreign Investors Should Know ................................................................. 12 IX.
References and Resources .................................................................................... 13
Summary of the EB-5 Program The EB-5 program was passed by Congress as part of the Immigration Act of 1990 with the objective of promoting the U.S. economy by leveraging funds of wealthy foreign nationals. Under this program, foreign investors would invest a minimum amount of $1 million in a New Commercial Enterprise1, create ten jobs, and obtain the Permanent Residence (Green Card) and eventually the U.S. Citizenship in return. The law however, lowers the minimum investment to $500 thousand if the commercial enterprise and the job creation was going to occur in a Targeted Employment Areas or TEA. The program has been modified several times since then to promote certain areas and facilitate the investment process to foreign investors. In 1992 Congress approved an extension of the EB-5 program to allow pooled investments under the Pilot Program. Under this program, a USCIS approved Regional Center can raise domestic and foreign capital to develop larger projects, stimulating the economy at a different level. Under this program foreign investors would not have to be actively participating in the business and all applications can be streamlined by using the same attorneys, EB-5 service providers, and application process. Unfortunately, during the first ten years of existence, the EB-5 program was not as successful as originally expected due to several reasons. In 2005 the General Accountability Office found that investors were not using the program due to its complexity, long wait times, and low success rate. This, coupled with malpractice of domestic developers who circumvented the law to offer U.S. Citizenship to investors placing contributions of as low as $250,000 and relying on future capital expansions created a lot of debate and bad image around the program. Since 2011 a number of changes have been made to the EB-5 program to close loopholes and clarify ambiguities in the law. Since then, the number of applications has been on the rise and the number of failures has been lowered in proportion to the number of applications. While still caution has to be exercised by the investors, the outlook of the program for foreign investors is positive as well as it is for the U.S. economy. The chart below highlights the trend in number of applications, and approvals in the last five years.
EB-5 Application Trends 8,000
200% 150% 100% 50% 0% -50%
6,000 4,000 2,000 0 2009
1
2010
2011
2012
2013
Petitions Received
Approved
Denied
Growth of Petitions Year on Year
Growth of Approvals per Year
Growth of Denials per Year
NCE is defined by the Code of Federal Regulations as a commercial enterprise created after November 29 th, 1990
Interestingly enough, the growth of EB-5 petitions has increased rapidly from 2010 to 2012 and while the increase towards 2013 is still appreciable, it has slowed down significantly. This is in part due to an existing cap of 10,000 EB-5 visas per year and concerns that such maximum might be reached sooner rather than later by just completing the backlog of petitions from previous years. When looking at the type of investment behind the EB-5 applications, the U.S. Department of State 2 has publicly available data that breaks down the applications by country, Regional Center vs. Direct, and TEA vs. non-TEA. It was found that in 2013, over 80 percent of the EB-5 applications came from China, over 90 percent were processed through a Regional Center, and about 97 percent were located on TEAs. The figure below provides some additional insight about EB-5 approvals in 2013: EB-5 Route
TEA
Non-TEA
Total
Regional Center
8,087
7
8,094
Direct Investment
227
243
470
8,314
250
8,564
Total
While this data is restricted to the applications approved, it is unclear however how many applications were received on each of the segments presented in the table above. However it is safe to draw the conclusion that the majority of investors seeking to invest $500 thousand to obtain Legal Non Chinese EB-5 Approvals Permanent Status do so by placing their South Korea, investment in a Regional Center project, 4.3% Other Countries, while Direct Investment provides other 7.9% advantages for investors willing to place Mexico, 1.7% $1 million, such as more control of the Venezuela, U.S. company as well as more equity. 1.1% Below is a breakdown of countries other Great Britain, India, 1.0% Iran, 1.0% 1.0% than China where EB-5 investors came from in 2013. The EB-5 Program is more successful now than it was 10 years ago, but keep the following in mind:
There is a yearly cap on EB-5 approvals of 10,000, limiting growth of the EB-5 market
China is the main source of EB-5 investors with over 80% of the applications received
China is one of the only countries where migration agents help investors to invest overseas
Regional Centers have been more successful on attracting foreign capital
Investors looking for control of a US company will tend to avoid the Regional Center model
U.S. Department of State EB-5 Data available at: http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/AnnualReports/FY2013AnnualReport/FY13AnnualReportTableV-PartIII.pdf accessed on June 2014 2
EB-5 Direct Investment The EB-5 Direct Investment offers a lot of potential in both financial rewards and immigration benefits. As seen in the previous section they are not as popular as the Regional Center. There are reasons for this, among others, migration agents in China do not market projects that require less capital and provide them with less return. Additionally, there is a lot more education required by the investor upfront before committing to a business, whether it is existing or new as there is usually not a single intermediary that facilitates all the legal, financial, and strategic planning required by the USCIS to approve the EB-5 petition. Many investors seeking the EB-5 petition are afraid of committing to a petition that will lock their capital for up to two years and may or may not work. Because of this we have seen a tendency of some investors to seek an investment visa such as an E-2 with lower wait times, allowing to reside legally in the country earlier, and adjust to an EB-5 status later down the road. There are some risks with this strategy that the investor should be aware of and we ask the reader to consult with an immigration attorney to evaluate if this is an option. The following are benefits of investing through the EB-5 Direct Investment route: 1. Full control of the investment 2. More transparency and visibility on how the capital is being used 3. More economic rewards, investors may purchase a company or a portion of it, be entitled to dividends, salaries and other perks not available in the Regional Center model 4. Many times faster than a Regional Center if coached by the right experts Not everything is much better with this modality, the following are some of the drawbacks that foreign investors may see: 1. 2. 3. 4.
More time consuming on finding the right partners, attorneys, service providers, or even the business All jobs have to be created directly by the U.S. company Investor needs to be actively participating in the company Hard to find good opportunities from overseas
There are service providers that are shaping their offerings to lower the hurdle of Direct EB-5 investments to make it easier for both domestic companies looking for EB-5 capital and foreign nationals looking for reliable ways to invest in the U.S. with more capital gains. If you are evaluating to raise funds through the EB-5 program, or invest on a US business through the EB-5 program consider the following:
Direct EB-5 investments are not the only way to start a business in the US. Consider E-2, or L-1 visas.
Direct EB-5 investments may or may not be on a Start-Up, but have to be NCE as defined above.
Any intermediary in the investment of an existing US business needs to be registered with FINRA.
There is no limitation as to how to treat EB-5 investors (equity or loan) as far as their risk is minimized and US jobs are created.
Franchises are a common investment vehicle for EB-5 investors.
EB-5 Investment through Regional Centers As observed in the statistics presented above, the majority of foreign nationals seeking Permanent Residency status prefer to invest through the Regional Center model. This is not surprising for several reasons. Projects behind Regional Centers are usually backed by solid and well-funded developers that can spend a great deal of time and effort on marketing their project overseas. Because each single project involves a higher number of EB-5 investors, you will find more service providers in the Regional Center arena, charging very different prices for very different services. Finally, usually Regional Center projects are strategically designed to take advantage of the TEA designation from the start, allowing most of the investors to obtain their U.S. residency with less capital and less hassle. The following is a list of some of the most common benefits of the Regional Center investment model: 1. Mostly situated in TEAs 2. A dedicated team of professionals handle the application process, so very little involvement from the investor himself 3. Regional Centers can count the creation of indirect jobs through the use of an Econometric Study 4. EB-5 funds are not placed at risk until the application is approved There are some drawbacks to this model that need to be fully understood by the investors and developers considering a new Regional Center: 1. Depending on how the deal is structured, EB-5 funds cannot be used for the project development until the approval of the I-526 is received. This means a period of a few months up to a year. 2. Foreign Investors have very little or no control over the investment 3. Return on investments are either zero or very small, depending on other risk factors. 4. If the application gets rejected, EB-5 investors will have to recover 100 percent of the deposited funds.
There are over 500 approved regional centers, but over 80 percent of them are not active.
There is more than one way to set up a Regional Center, depending on the maturity of the underlying project and the short term vs. long term objectives.
Regional Centers advertise overseas (mainly in China) to expand their reach beyond domestic means
Under a Regional Center model, EB-5 funds should represent no more than 40% of the total capital needed for the project
Through Econometric Analysis, indirect job creation can be claimed, but is best to have at least a 20% buffer on the results from the analysis
Fulfilling the Job Creation Requirements The EB-5 program requires the creation of ten full-time jobs in the U.S. A full time job is defined as a job in which the employee works at least 35 hours per week. It is important to notice that for the purposes of this program, full-time equivalent jobs cannot be counted towards this requirement. In other words, the USCIS does not allow to combine part-time jobs to obtain a full-time figures. The law states that when an existing business is considered troubled, the re-structuring of the company for EB-5 purposes, will not have to create ten jobs, but preserve at least ten jobs. If the company staff size was lower than ten however, the new company would have to preserve the totality of its staff and create the remaining jobs to reach the number of ten employees. In the case of troubled business, the application would have to have CPA letter that certifies that the business past performance pass the test. The time frame for job creation is the two year period that last between the issue of the temporary Green Card and the removal of the temporary conditions, known as I-829 application. As mentioned before, the Regional Center investment method allows local developers to predict the economic impact of the development in the geographical area where the project is located with the objective of providing evidence of job creation beyond the direct hires. This is referred to as indirect job creation and is only allowed in the EB-5 Regional Center model. To take advantage of this allowance, an economist needs to study the impact of the new commercial enterprise in the region. The economist will use generally the amount of capital to be invested, the list of affected industries and the geographical area to be impacted by the project and its employees. There are several tools or models that economists may use for this study. Among them are IMPLAN, RIMS-II, I-RIMS, REDYNE, or REMI. While it is out of the scope of this guide to get into the details of each one of these tools, it should be noted that the most commonly used are IMPLAN, and RIMS-II or I-RIMS. These last two share the exact same methodology, but use different data source. While RIMS-II relies on data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the I-RIMS model relies on the same data used by IMPLAN.
Here are some tips when getting ready to perform the Economic Analysis
Have an open mind about the number of jobs and EB-5 capital limits as Economists will be as fair and unbiased to the EB-5 projects as possible.
Get an accurate Capital Expenditure table before you engage an Economist. This will avoid having to re-do the analysis based on undesired results.
Many Economists offer a preliminary analysis before producing the final document, consider this approach if you are still not sure how the project will evolve.
Never attempt to stretch the construction schedule of a project to go over 24 months to count for construction jobs, the USCIS will see through this and turn down the application.
TEA designation restrict jobs to the local geographical region of the company while non-TEA projects are not restricted to the locality of the business.
Targeted Employment Areas The concept of a Targeted Employment Area or TEA was developed along with the EB-5 program in 1990 to assist on the economic development of remote or economically adverse areas, or both. The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 8 Article 204.6 (e), defines a TEA as an area which, at the time of investment, is a rural area or an area which has experienced unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average rate. A rural area is defined by the same article, as an area not within a metropolitan statistical area as designated by the Office of Management and Budget, or the outer boundary of any city or town having a population of 20,000 or more. There are a few challenges observed by EB-5 practitioners, attorneys, and consultants when it comes to claiming that a business will be in a TEA: 1. There is no federal standard, other than the clearly defined law above, on what unemployment data to use. 2. There is no clear process for submitting proof of evidence that the area is in fact a TEA 3. There is no federal agency that issues TEA designation, and therefore this designation, if available, occurs at the state level with different government agencies taking the lead on a state by state basis. Unemployment levels are measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor on a monthly basis using the Current Population Survey (CPS) with a sample size of 60,000 households. This is roughly 110,000 individuals scattered across the U.S. The Census Bureau then splits the country into 2,025 geographical areas and select 824 of these to represent every state. BLS performs surveys monthly within this sample. This technique provides a fairly accurate view of the unemployment level in the U.S. at an average level, but it is clear that fluctuations city by city and county by county are not well observed. Because of this, the Census Bureau also performs the American Community Survey (ACS). This survey is the largest household survey in the U.S. and arguably the most accurate when released but also the most time consuming. This survey is updated yearly for larger cities, every three for smaller cities, and every five for areas in which population is below 20,000. The USCIS is aware of the differences on data accuracy, update periods, and assumptions behind each measure. Because of this, it is accepted that when evaluating the threshold for TEA of 150% national average, practitioners may use the last year national average rather than using the monthly U.S. unemployment rate. As of June of 2014 the threshold based on the national average of 2013 was 11.1%. When determining the actual unemployment rate at the local level, the applicant may use the ACS data which provides statistics on the more than 74,000 tracts, the smallest geographical area tracked by the U.S. census, and updated every 1-3 years for non-rural areas. Let’s recall that TEAs already include all rural areas regardless of unemployment levels. If you find that your business is located in a tract in which the unemployment rate is not above the 150 percent threshold, you may perform what we call a Geographical Alignment of Tract Employment Statistics (GATES) study, also commonly known as gerrymandering. By doing this, you may group statistics of adjacent tracts to qualify the region where the business will be established. This is a technique specifically approved by the USCIS on the basis of fairness. Tracts tend to be rather small areas and it is quite unrealistic to think that all employees
will reside in the same tract as the business. While GATES studies are allowed by the USCIS to seek TEA designation, they are approved by the state on a case by case basis. Projects that group a large number of tracts, or use unrealistic assumptions to qualify for the TEA designation, have a higher risks of not getting designated by the State or revoked by USCIS. Additionally, every state has its own guidelines and limits on how to do this study and what the process should be. As of May 30th of 2013, the USCIS made clear that it will not question the authority of the state on granting a project TEA designation, except that it deserves the right to confirm the information submitted. In any case considered tracts always need to be contiguous and logical. While it doesn’t seem to be a standardized process at the federal level to obtain TEA designation, there are a couple of options available. First, let’s remember that if the project is located in a rural area, there is no need to request a letter from any authority regarding TEA designation. The project developer may provide the data along with a letter to the USCIS as the law is very clear and simple in this regard. In the case in which the TEA is claimed based on unemployment rates, the EB-5 petitioner, or project developer, may request a letter from the local authority in charge of designating the project as in the TEA. Unfortunately the applicant would have to do some research on who provides these designations in their particular state. One state in particular, New Mexico, does not designate projects as TEA, while until recently, states like Nevada were TEA state-wide. Some states have a streamlined process, while a handful of others will analyze the project on an individual basis.
Take away points for TEA designation • Do not overlook the fact that rural areas automatically qualify. • TEA designation applies to EB-5 Direct Investments as well as Regional Centers. • The TEA designation follows a straight forward definition but the approval process varies a lot from state to state. • Unemployment data has to be carefully obtained and reasonableness has to be used when comparing the local unemployment to the national level. • Hire an expert to carry out the TEA designation process to mitigate the risks of rejection by the state or the USCIS. • If a GATES study is necessary, be reasonable in your assumptions, and seek the advice of an expert.
What Domestic Developers Should Know If you are leading a domestic business and are considering expanding your business using the EB-5 program it is because you are most likely aware of the benefits of the EB-5 program for you. This section sheds some light in some of the myths and highlights the benefits and risks for you as a domestic business developer. While the EB-5 program provides great benefits to domestic firms that seek to expand operations and therefore would like to access some capital, it is also true that the EB-5 program sounds better than it actually is. Before getting into the hassles, however, let’s talk about the benefits and some of the things that you would have to have ready as a developer. If you are considering this program is most likely because you like the idea of not having to deal with a lending institution, or selling part of the company to a domestic investor, venture capital firm, or angel investors. This program is a perfect fit for you then, but only if you are willing to go through the bureaucratic process of an EB-5 application, and the complexity of finding a foreign investor. So what are the benefits for you and how you get them? First, just like in a business sale, it is up to you how you want to structure the offering, you may set the EB-5 investment as a loan to be paid in different ways, with whatever interest rate you choose, or may choose to sell a portion of your company for a period of two years until the investor becomes a lawful permanent resident with a buy back strategy at a pre-determined price. In both cases, the domestic firm should not provide any return on investment to the foreign investor until his conditional status is removed, which is usually at about two years after the application has been approved and a temporary green card issued. This allows the domestic company to have access to much needed capital, at a potentially low interest rate. Now, this all sounds great, but way too many domestic developers attempt to go this route without looking at some of the requirements and overseeing some challenges that make this process somewhat difficult. 1. The first question that needs to be answered is, is this capital for a commercial enterprise or a non-profit? If it is for a non-profit, read no further, non-profit organizations do not qualify for the EB-5 program. 2. The second question is, how old is the business? If your business has not been founded yet or it was established after November 29 of 1990, then your business is considered a New Commercial Enterprise, and it qualifies for this program. If the business is older however, the capital expansion you are seeking must be substantial as defined by the law3, which implies an increase by 40 percent in either net worth, or number of employees. 3. Then, is your business considered a troubled business? To qualify for this, you will need a certificate from your CPA showing that the enterprise has lost at least 20 percent of its net worth (book value) in the last 24 months. If this is the case, the company does not need to fulfill the jobs requirement as long as at least ten jobs are kept in the business after the EB-5 investment. If the company had less than ten jobs prior to the EB-5 investment, the remaining would have to be created. 3
Title 8 Article 204.6(h) of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
4. If the New Commercial Enterprise is not troubled, are you going to generate at least ten (10) new jobs within the next two years? Keep in mind that for each ten jobs you may qualify for an additional investor, so 15 would still be one qualified EB-5 investor. If you are not, you should drop the idea right away. 5. Next, you should figure out whether your business is located in a TEA or not. If not, keep in mind that your business will be limited to a minimum $1 Million investment level which is significantly less appealing to foreign investors. If it is in a TEA however, you need to also keep in mind that the jobs will have to be created within your company’s local area and within the TEA. For instance a call center that uses one address to qualify for the TEA but employs people across the US would not qualify. 6. How much additional capital will you need? If you are considering above $10 Million and/or ten or more EB-5 investors, you should consider using a Regional Center to host your project or open your own Regional Center, it will be more cost effective, although not necessarily faster to use a Regional Center to host your project. The USCIS has a list of over 530 Regional Centers available across the U.S.4 7. If you have resolved these questions favorably and still want to move forward with the EB-5 capital raise strategy, is time to start building your investment package. To attract foreign investors, your package should consist of a very presentable and marketable business plan. You may think of this as part of your marketing plan. Your plan should highlight the structure of the deal and exit strategies after the investor obtains their Lawful Permanent Resident status. Once you have generated enough interest, you will need to fully develop your business plan to present it to the USCIS with a lot more detail and present it to both, the USCIS and the EB-5 investor. It is at this stage to that you need to engage with an immigration attorney to walk you through the whole legal process. 8. Time to find some investors. Finding the investors is one of the most difficult things you may face in this process. This is purely a marketing exercise and the success of this phase purely depends on the time, capital, and effort allocated to this phase. Some alternatives include EB-5 agencies in China, US Regional Centers, EB-5 practitioners and EB-5 conferences. Dr. Finkelson has a great guide to help you find investors in China through many different channels. 9. When dealing with international investors you need to make sure the fit is good for both parties, so a lot of due diligence is necessary by both parties to make sure the relationship will be successful. Be prepared to be as transparent as possible and ask as much as possible about potential investors. 10. Find an escrow company or bank that will work with EB-5 investments, there are not that many out there, but having an investment in escrow while the application takes effect, will provide a much higher level of confidence to your investors.
USCIS List of Immigrant Investor Regional Centers available at http://www.uscis.gov/working-unitedstates/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-fifth-preference-eb-5/immigrant-investor-regional-centers and accessed on July 15th, 2014 4
What Foreign Investors Should Know If you are an international investor looking to migrate to the U.S. under this program and obtain the U.S. Citizenship this way, you should read further. The benefits of being a U.S. Resident aren’t measurable, but the EB-5 application process is very time consuming and costly. As an immigrant, you will get the benefit of obtaining the Lawful Resident Status in a legitimate way; as an investor, you may or may not like the financial outcome of this strategy. The decision on what to do depends on how much capital you have available to invest, how much of the business you want to manage directly, and how much you care about your investment versus the value you place to the US Resident permit. There are two main strategies highlighted in this document already, they are the Direct Investment and the Regional Center model. Regardless of which method you end up choosing, these common elements need to be taken into consideration prior to going the EB-5 route. 1. You will be placing an investment at risk and therefore you might lose all of your money. This is unlikely but still possible. 2. What appears to be a pure bureaucratic process may turn into a financial nightmare if you don’t keep costs insight. Attorney’s fees, EB-5 consultants, and other service providers will help tremendously along the way but always for a fee. 3. Do not attempt to collect information from attorneys and service providers for free. While most professionals in the U.S. will be glad to point you in the right direction in a brief conversation for free, calling and e-mailing repeatedly without having an engagement agreement in place will create some clashes. You need to do as much research as possible prior to start making phone calls. 4. If the EB-5 application involves bringing your family to the U.S. make sure that the EB-5 investment is not 100% of your family savings. There is too much at stake, and you will need funds to live comfortably and with little access to credit. 5. The EB-5 program works best for investors that place a higher importance on the U.S. Citizenship rather than in return on investment. Having said that, the highest return on investment occurs on direct investments. 6. There are a lot of inactive Regional Centers. It is imperative to perform due diligence on both Regional Centers (Private and Public) and companies offering EB-5 investments. 7. You may find available options or you can create one yourself. Many investors forget the fact that they can start their own business and use it to apply for EB-5. This is perhaps more complex and time consuming than other available options but it will be significantly more affordable and rewarding if you run a business that you have an interest on. 8. There are simpler and faster (although more restrictive) ways to migrate to the U.S. as an investor. Consider E-2 or L-1 visas as valid alternatives to your case.
References and Resources The following references are some of the best resources regarding the EB-5 program. Click on the header of each of these to visit their site. Greengate Consulting, LLC Greengate Consulting is a firm dedicated to provide counsel and services to international investors seeking to invest in the U.S. under any of the investment visas available. Among some of the services offered are business plans, economic analysis, risk analysis, and TEA studies. IIUSA Founded in 2005, the Association to Invest In the USA (IIUSA®) is the national membership-based 501(c)(6) not-for-profit industry trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Program (the “Program”). USCIS U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services page for EB-5 Program. Code of Federal Regulations (Article 204.6 EB-5 Program) This is the actual law mandating the requirements of the EB-5 program. EB-5 Investors Magazine EB5 Investors Magazine serves as a companion to EB5Investors.com and strives to deliver compelling and comprehensive articles and information for everything EB-5 related. EB5 Investors magazine provides a platform to keep readers up to date on the constantly changing laws and legislation pertaining to EB-5. How to Find Chinese Investors, Agents & Clients for your EB-5 Projects & Services In his new book Dr. Gregory Finkelson unveils practical and insightful information to help business people understand the opportunities and benefits of the EB-5 program with Chinese investors. EB-5 Investments Increase your knowledge about the EB-5 investment options and persons behind the offerings; save time and money by investing directly. The site allows you to search information on past and present projects, industry, state, operators, developers, financial institutions and other professionals involved. EB-5 Info EB-5 Info is a source of news and information on the USCIS EB-5 Visa Immigrant Investor program and is powered by USAdvisors, a Registered Investment Advisory Firm.