Visa/investment program set to bring capital, jobs to R.I.

QUICK FITTING, a Warwick plumbing equipment manufacturer, has received approval to solicit and accept foreign investment under the federal EB-5 visa program. In addition, the company has been approved to be a regional center to channel other such investments to manufacturers in the region. / COURTESY QUICK FITTING
QUICK FITTING, a Warwick plumbing equipment manufacturer, has received approval to solicit and accept foreign investment under the federal EB-5 visa program. In addition, the company has been approved to be a regional center to channel other such investments to manufacturers in the region. / COURTESY QUICK FITTING

WARWICK – Plumbing equipment manufacturer Quick Fitting Inc. has secured approval from U.S. immigration officials to broker investments in Rhode Island manufacturers from foreign nationals seeking permanent residency in the United States, the company said Monday.

Federal approval of the Rhode Island EB-5 Regional Center also included clearance for the company’s own EB-5 project, which would raise $20 million from 40 investors and finance expansion of its Warwick factory.

The new regional center will be the second approved for Rhode Island, but the Warwick plant expansion is the first individual EB-5 project to be approved in the state.

The federal EB-5 program provides green cards for foreign nationals whose investments produce at least 10 new permanent U.S. jobs. When projects are financed through regional centers, the minimum investment is reduced from $1 million to $500,000 and “indirect” jobs created can be counted.

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John Cronin, COO of the new Rhode Island EB-5 Regional Center, said Quick Fitting sees its own $20 million EB-5 financing round as a pilot for projects with other Ocean State manufacturers, some of whom he has had initial discussions with.

Quick Fitting has been working to bring production of some of its plumbing products, currently made by up to eight Chinese contract manufacturers, back to the United States.

The company intends to match the $20 million from foreign nationals with another $20 million of its own capital in a project that it estimates will create 230 new jobs at the company, which currently employ 85, over the next two years, Cronin said. The company estimates the project will create 680 jobs when including indirect jobs.

With U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approval now in hand, Cronin said he would be working to finalize individual deals with the 40 investors who have expressed interest in the Quick Fitting project. Each investor needs to pass a federal background check.

If all goes according to plan, expansion of the existing 100,000-square-foot plant at 30 Plan Way in Warwick, including purchase of new injection molding equipment, will begin in the first quarter of next year, Cronin said. It has not been determined yet whether the expansion will take place entirely at the existing plant or also include an additional Rhode Island facility, Cronin said.

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