At least two noted immigration law firms also referenced the AAO's decision in recent newsletters. According to a recent newsletters from the Miller Mayer and Serotte Reich Wilson firms, the conclusion to the AAO's decision sums things up nicely:
[T]he applicant has proposed an investment plan whereby alien investors would make independent, passive, personal real estate investments that garner them no equity ownership in a new commercial enterprise. Instead of presenting a plan for a pooled equity investment of capital into a new commercial enterprise, the applicant has merely put forth a marketing strategy to attract sufficient buyers to fund later phases of development. This plan does not meet the letter or spirit of [the law and regulations] designed to encourage pooled investments in a new commercial enterprise benefitting a geographic region.
And since, as the AAO also notes, "[every] retail establishment uses at least some of its sales proceeds to purchase additional inventory," every customer who enters its doors does not automatically become an investor in the business. Here, the comparison to the Statesman Group's application seems extremely appropriate – not to mention telling. The same newspaper article detailing the number of jobs this project seeks to create also states that Garth Mann, President of the Statesman Group, is now working closely with his attorney and a professional writer. With better assistance, perhaps his next attempt at USCIS approval will pan out. This will be his fourth try. According to one observer and former USCIS officer we interviewed, this application failed to pass the "laugh test." It simply could not be understood as a serious approach to meeting core elements of the regional center approval process. Had the applicant shown how the purpose, scope, focus, and operation of the proposed regional center would actually benefit the economy and create new jobs, its chances for approval may have been greater. An "overly broad" proposal Dated May 2, 2011, the second decision tells us much about what USCIS looks for in the economic impact report and in TEA data. First of all, the applicant's proposal offered five different scenarios:
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