Ramin Asgard, VP of Global Business Development shares his thoughts on the impact COVID-19 has had on global migration.
Ramin Asgard, VP of Global Business Development shares his thoughts on the impact COVID-19 has had on global migration.
Today on investing in the American Dream podcast we have featured guests remain Asgard roominess a foreign former foreign political adviser to General Petraeus, and currently the senior vice president for global business development with first pathway partners, a US based investment and global services firm. He's also a national security thought leader, Attorney, business development and entrepreneur expert, based in Manhattan and globally. His work is focused on global market access and analysis, national security matters and government relations. Previously, Mr. asker is a highly decorated veteran US foreign service officer with the Department of State today Mr. aztech will be speaking on COVID-19 impact on global migration and the opportunity to review current Eb five options. Let's get into it.
Unknown Speaker :remain. Thank you so much for joining us today. I hear you're joining us from Dubai.
Unknown Speaker :Yes, that's right. Hi, Jess. Nice to see
Unknown Speaker :you. Thank you. We appreciate your time today and covering some of the topics surrounding global migration and COVID-19. But I think one of the first things, you know, just to address is, in the case of the US, with the recently announced 60 day immigration ban, how is that impacting Eb five and e to investment programs? And is the US still processing applications even though most of the country is on lockdown, and most us embassies and consulates abroad remain closed?
Unknown Speaker :Not just that's, that's a very good question. Obviously, COVID has a whole range of challenges that have affected not just the United States but every country around the world. US is obviously a country That has a huge amount of immigration and travel that happens. So the response to COVID has been pretty comprehensive. When President Trump announced that there would be a ban for 60 days on immigration, he made clear that what the band was about was that the US economy should come first, doing what he can for us workers should be a priority. And so that ban was not was not really related to shutting down Eb five and shutting down a two because Eb five and e to our immigration programs, without any doubt create jobs and create investment in the United States. So pretty soon after the initial news broke of that of that 60 day. Stop on immigration. It was announced that it does not affect Eb five And it does not affect me too. So the good news is that that Well, there's a lot of good news there. One is that, you know, the US economy, there's some people looking out for workers in the US economy and making sure that they're able to get back to work and not have, you know, any delays and getting back to work. That's terrific, but also is terrific is that a great program like Eb five, and another program for investment are not affected. It's really only limited to slowing down some immigration programs that have to do with employment, so that when the economy does get started back up again, the first priority will be getting people back to work who are in the United States, not necessarily immigrants who are just getting to the United States. So that's what that was about. Obviously, a lot of, you know, commentary on it so it could get confusing, but that was what it was about. As far as you know, how quickly To an EB five are going to be processed, easy to slow down by the fact that the embassies and consulates where e two visas are done, are currently closed. So they're not really doing a two interviews at this moment. That's still not clear exactly when they're going to reopen. But, you know, it's it's it shouldn't be too long. And etoos only take a few months in any case. So there might be a slight delay there with Eb fives. There's some backlogs. Yes. But there there have been backlogs for some time before COVID. So hopefully what will happen is that when folks get back to work in full, some of those backlogs will be addressed and we'll get to move forward with Eb five. But as far as taking on new Eb five new cases, it's a business as usual.
Unknown Speaker :Great. Um, you know, you mentioned COVID-19 what broad changes can we Expect for global migration, particularly with high net worth individuals making investments in residency and citizenship by investment programs as a result of COVID-19?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, that's a very good question. Um, you know, there's been some different changes as far as what people expect from a global migration. Before, there were there was a lot of emphasis on, you know, trying to find the cheapest solution, or the solution which had a good number of countries that had visa free travel, you know, in other words, you get this country's passport, you'll be able to travel without getting another visa to, I don't know, 120 140 whatever the case may be additional countries. Well, with COVID what we saw was, you know, a lot of that stuff is good in normal conditions but in a crisis. A lot of countries just shut down their, their borders, a lot of countries didn't allow visa free travel, a lot of countries didn't allow visa on entry, which is the other kind of, you know, thing that's, that's a big deal. So some of the some of the preferences have changed, for example. People want to know that, you know, if they have to relocate in a crisis, that there's, there's a there's a place they can go. And there's a country that has the resources to be able to do things like look after their citizens in another country. They want to be able to know that for example, you know, I want to be able to get with me being an intending migrant for investment. I want to be able to get health insurance, I want to be able to get decent health care in the place that I'm going and that's a bigger factor than it might have been, you know, Before, and I think a lot of the countries that that dealt with COVID in different ways, took different measures to try to address this pandemic. And no people around the world noticed. And then they think, Well, you know, if I'm going to become a citizen of that country and I want to maybe relocate to that country, did they do a good job? Is that a country where I'm gonna feel comfortable? There's another crisis. I'm gonna feel comfortable there. So people are asking questions about health care, people are asking questions about, you know, Citizen Services overseas. People are asking questions about, you know, whether or not they're gonna be able to arrange a repatriation flight. Those were never things that people thought of before. So there there was this thing between virtual citizenship and functional like real, tangible citizenship, and a lot of folks opted for virtual citizenship. countries where, you know, they really weren't wasn't a realistic prospect that they would ever relocate their family. This was about having a passport that allowed him to travel. Now, it's kind of geared towards a little bit more those countries that people can actually move to, people can actually get health care from, that they can actually call on the Embassy of that country in another country. And, you know, if they get into a difficult situation, they might be able to help them out. So those are some considerations that weren't in place before. And, you know, it's the thing about it is, it's not clear yet, as we sit here today, you know, almost here at the end of April, whether or not this is going to go on for another month, or it's going to go for, you know, a couple cycles of this coming back at us. So, you know, people are kind of taking these considerations and a little bit longer term, and when when they make their decision. So it's just a it's a It's a it's a different set of questions. They're asking when they're looking at this and God, you know, they have a lot of time on their hands to reflect on what makes sense for them to relocate. So, you know, it's something that I look at,
Unknown Speaker :you know, you bring up a good point regarding my migration preferences. And if some of that has changed, you know, in your opinion, does the US still remain the the top immigration destination worldwide post COVID-19? You know,
Unknown Speaker :that's a very good point, I think. I think that first people realize that COVID rep reached everywhere. I mean, okay, there were a couple isolated islands here and there where there were no cases but it pretty much reached every major country. And so, um, you know, when it is level like that, and it affects everyone, all the different factors why people might want to come to the United States still apply and for a lot of people, for some of them countries where, you know, people relocate due to higher education. US is still number one, if they're relocating for economic opportunity and range of different types of business opportunities. The US is still number one, if they're relocating for, you know, they're they're an innovator, they're an entrepreneur and they want to make sure that their intellectual property is protected. US is still number one. There are other countries that have, you know, made some inroads and being attractive and have some innovative programs as well. So the US is the only option. It still is still the first choice of many, many people and COVID has, I don't think I've done anything to damage that I do think that it will be important for a lot of people, like we said, those questions that they asked before, you know, is the US going to be a country that takes care of people if there's a problem. Yes, they are. Is is, is the US self sufficient for food? You know, as a grown if there's a food issue if there's a supply issue, yes, it is. So us is capable of responding to the crisis, the US has the best higher education, the US has the best scope of economic opportunity. All that is the same has not changed with COVID. So I think the US remains in a wonderful, you know, position. However, there are other countries out there now that people look at
Unknown Speaker :so we shouldn't get complacent.
Unknown Speaker :I think well, everybody's come gonna come to the United States. So we don't have to really worry too bad too much about how we treat recent folks who come to the United States. The United States has had immigrants from its inception. And it is important that immigrants feel welcome here and continue to feel welcome here. And I think we're we're doing that Take, you know, more work remains to be done. But I think people in general feel that us still has a top spot, even even after some of the challenges with code
Unknown Speaker :right now, and we talked a little bit about the discipline by investment programs. Is it true that some citizenship by investment providers will offer discounts or quicker processing times? Sort of incentives to encourage investors to choose their country over the US?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I think that's a good point. And by the way, the US also could conceivably have I listened to your podcast with Kraft, Bob Kraft. And, you know, there there was, there was speculation that the US is actually going to offer some, you know, reduced minimum investment amounts, maybe have more visas available and, and so on. Now, there's two different things. One is what these Countries are going to do for the economic stimulus benefit of these programs. So, these again, and Mr. Kraft alluded to it back in 2008, after the, you know, there was a real estate bubble that burst and there was a crisis with derivatives and all kinds of things that were going on. And one of the ways that capital was brought into a very shaky system at that point was through the EB five program. Well, if immigration is used as a way to bring new investment into the United States, or for that matter into other countries, then that's bringing investment from outside in and helping the economy get back on its feet after a hard time. So from an economic stimulus standpoint, yeah, I think that countries, especially countries where the citizenship by investment programs is a big part of their revenue packet. I mean, United States is a little tiny slice. What eB eB five produces. Is each year out of a huge economy. But some of these smaller countries, it's a big piece of, you know, their, their their foreign exchange reserves. I mean, they get a lot of money out of these programs and a lot of investment into their country. So, absolutely, I think I think that countries will look at it as economic stimulus and bring in money through these mechanisms. I think the countries where it's a big chunk of the revenue they bring in, will have a bigger incentive to do so. And I think because there's competition, they'll probably do things like offer incentives, some of the Caribbean countries have been talking about offering incentives offering faster processing, perhaps reducing their minimum amounts that they're charging, perhaps working together, collectively, to help sustain their, you know, programs. That's all that's, you know, that's it. Likely, more likely than not to actually happen, because these programs have been, you know, amazing revenue earners, not just for those small countries in the Caribbean, but even countries, larger countries are, you know, EU countries benefit from these. So I do think you'll start to see things like incentives and discounts, expedited processing. And again, from from a perspective of marketing, it's a competitive marketplace. And once once COVID is, you know, over with people are going to be looking at all of these different things, and they'll have time to reflect on all of them. And it's important if you've answered some of these new questions that have come up, and it's also important if you can, you know, offer a good deal and some of the some of the countries may really get into, you know, competition over who can who can get those those customers that come online after COVID after people start migrating again,
Unknown Speaker :you know, you kind of touched on this a little bit when you talked about incentives. But in your opinion, do you think there's gonna be some kind of New World Order, as experts have predicted, particularly for global globalization and governments after COVID-19?
Unknown Speaker :Yeah, I mean, I think they're, you know, there's there is there's a speculation that, you know, there's going to be a lot of changes that are going to be in place as far as travel as far as, you know, how governments effectively manage their, their their citizens or public health. There's lots of talk about how the office and the workplace will change permanently. And then a lot of people will, you know, no longer, you know, come into to actually physical work locations. Um, you know, I think maybe some of that may be You know, this crisis can lead to, you know, US discovering a lot of things about ways to work efficiently with a lot of limitations, but I, I think, um, you know, one of the things that, you know, people have realized is that it really is important if different countries are kind of sharing information and cooperating. You know, it's a connected world one way or another, I don't think that there's going to be a shift in people wanting to travel people wanting to do business internationally and so on. I do think that, you know, there this this may have, you know, created a situation where, you know, the density like this is another question that people have started asking when they're looking at quality of life, what's the population density in the in the country or the city that I want to move into? That was something nobody ever cared about before. And you know, what people thought about in office settings and work in In, in living quarters and in neighborhoods was, you know, how many, you know, units, employees, offices can we pack into this space? Now, there's a little bit more of this need to kind of give people room. I don't know, I it's hard to say whether those kinds of things will have lasting effects. I do think that, you know,
Unknown Speaker :the, the
Unknown Speaker :it's probably too early to tell how we're going to come out of this COVID thing and and how we're going to get back to, you know, normal with travel, where we're going to get back to normal with tourism and, and, and migration. The hope is that, you know, it will return to a point where people, people do have
Unknown Speaker :an interest in
Unknown Speaker :moving around exploring living in other places, and so on. We'll have to let's put that let's put that question partly on hold and partly on only because there's still remains to be seen how we get out of this. And partly to say, you know, let's not overreact. I mean, this is a, this has been a bit unprecedented. But on the other hand, I think we've learned a lot of good things. And I think there have been a lot of silver linings about this. And so, you know, it might not necessarily be a bad, bad aftermath, that we've, we've been obliged to kind of, you know, reflect, get to know what's important and strip away a lot of, you know, non essential elements of, you know, things and maybe it'll make us more efficient, you know, as governments. But I do hope very much, that it doesn't lead to something where travel bans, very strict limitations on, you know, people being able to come into a country and so on. I don't think that's necessarily going to be very good for, for I'm certainly not for Tourism, it's not going to be good for academia, it's not going to be good for a lot of things. So hopefully, you know, we do return to some level of normalcy, and we'll put it we'll put, let's take that up on another later a, as to whether it's going to have a long term impact on global governance or something like, you know, new world order comes into effect.
Unknown Speaker :Right? Absolutely. You know, and you kind of mentioned right now sort of being a good time to reflect and sort of considering different things now with when choosing citizenship by investment programs or different types of residency. And I'm kind of wondering, you know, how can those interested in migration to the US for themselves or their families learn more about Eb five and e to investment programs while in quarantine?
Unknown Speaker :No, I mean, that's a very good question. You know, it's not easy To get reliable information on some of these programs, because one of the things that does happen sometimes is when you get the information, it's either too technical, or it's limited. In other words, you get a little slice of it, but you don't know what you don't know, anytime you go into an area, which is as big a topic as global migration and citizenship programs. Gosh, it's really hard to know. So, you know, what we've done at first pathway is we've decided that, hey, we owe it to our clients and our existing clients or prospective clients to keep them well informed. And so this podcast, that that's being done here, I think, is a terrific step, Jessica, you know, it's also we do, you know, webinars and other information channels, with people having time to actually slow down enough to actually listen to a podcast, or even while they're doing Something else let's tune in, or listen to webinar and ask questions. I mean, if you have a choice, you can go ask questions from US government that'll be on hold for a long time, then you may or may not get a question that's not just, you know, a boilerplate response. I mean, it would be great if they could give customized answers to everybody who calls in, but it's just not now anyway. Could they do it? You haven't. So you're gonna you're gonna take a lot of time and you're probably gonna get a boilerplate general response, you can ask an immigration attorney, again, I'm sure they want to help and they want to be affected. The challenge with that is that's going to be expensive. You're going to need to make an appointment, and you may or may not be able to, you know, you may not be ready to talk about all these, you know, different things that an immigration attorney would would require for you to talk about. And keep in mind with an immigration attorney, and I have a lot of respect for immigrant Attorneys, they're only going to talk to you about one country. All right. I mean, if a solution for you, me, maybe, hey, let's get a citizenship somewhere else. They're not admitted to those jurisdictions. So they're only going to look at what they can do that can help, you know, attorney is going to say, Hey, you know what, you'd be better off, getting up leaving this office, going to somebody about another country, they're not going to do that. So what we do at first pathway is, look, we know people have a tough decision on something like relocating their family. I mean, that's like a life decision that's going to change every aspect of their life. So what we want to do is give as much information as possible to people so that they can make an informed decision. And it may not wind up being their best solution to work with us, at least not right now. But now they have the time to really listen and, you know, you can certainly tune into this podcast and subscribe. You can tune into we have webinars. And in general, we have a very knowledgeable group of people, it's more than happy to respond to inquiries. And if we don't know the answer will point you in the direction where you'll find it. But if you're if you're one of those people that likes to investigate on your own and learn on your own, you know, there's nothing better than podcasts, webinars, white papers, those kinds of things, to learn about a topic. Discover what you what you need to know. And then you go in whatever you decide to do, you're better informed. And you have a range of options you're considering. As opposed to you go on and do an internet search and you find out you know, a bunch of things that are on the internet. There may not be the best for you, it might just be who has the flashiest Chinese, you know, landing page. That should be how you decide how you decide the future of your family. And for generations to come, it should be somebody who's giving you information. And look, if you're the kind of person that's able to relocate your family, you're the kind of person who's capable enough to make a decision. If you've got all the available information at your fingertips. That's what we're trying to get people. We're trying to give people a range of information so that they can make their make the decision about what they want to do. It's easy to do when you're in quarantine. What What else you're gonna do I mean, you, you have access to, you know, thank God, you have access to at least the internet. And you can you can listen to these programs. So that's, that's what we've done. That's meant as a service to
Unknown Speaker :our clients and our prospective clients and to the global citizen out at launch. urge that, uh, you know, Mr. Kraft and I'm first pathway, work with on a daily basis so that they can get the information they need to make the best decision for themselves and their family.
Unknown Speaker :Great. Well, thank you so much for me and for your time today and your insight and all the information you shared with us today. I think that's about it for the podcast today. And thank you again for joining us from Dubai.
Unknown Speaker :Thanks so much for thanks for joining us for doing this, for bringing me on board to talk this over, hopefully, you know, we get through this COVID and we have, you know, a more regular meetings and such that people can do, but for the time being, you know, take advantage of this time when you're in quarantine to listen, listen to Jessica, this is some super informative stuff. And we're really, really pleased to bring it to you. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker :Thanks for your closing thoughts.
Unknown Speaker :If you would like to know more about first pathway partners, and how they can help you with a direct Eb five investment, or if you're looking for other visa opportunities such as an E two visa, please contact them directly online at www dot first pathway.com Transcribed by https://otter.ai