The EB-5 funding typically comes at a lower rate allowing for a lower gross project return to be equivalent or potentially better than a higher return when evaluated on a net basis. For instance a project yielding a 20% gross return with 8% funding costs would yield a net return of 12%. Whereas a project yielding a 15% gross return with a 2% EB-5 funding cost would yield a net return of 13%.

GlobeSt.com: Many experts agree that EB-5 use is predicted to grow in the affordable housing sector—a category previously left untouched. What are your thoughts regarding the feasibility of using EB-5 funding for affordable housing?

Klein: Critics of the program say it amounts to little more than buying a visa and it benefits the wealthy more than the high-unemployment communities it's supposed to help. The critics may be correct that an EB-5 investor is indeed buying a visa, but when one looks at the greater good, it has to be considered whether the affordable housing project would have been built.

Is it better to build an affordable housing project that will employ a number of local residents during the construction and house a number of local residents after completion—while rewarding a foreign investor with a visa—then not building the project? Most would say yes.