Bangkok--24 Jan--YSIS
Two experts in immigration law combined forces with one mission in mind: Educate South-East Asia on global mobility. The story that is about to unveil itself is an intriguing one; two men from the countryside Jean-Francois Harvey and Bastien Trelcat has ventured out of the comforts of their motherland and into the successful path of an entrepreneurial-international lawyers, in which one calls Hong Kong and another calls Thailand their home.Meet Harvey Law Group partners duo who had spent decades of their entire career to facilitate the expansion of global enterprises and people through citizenship-by-investment.
Jean-Francois Harvey was born in Northern Quebec, Canada where he enjoyed countless summer and winter days in the unspoiled natural environment. Since his youth, law has played an important role in his life as he was inspired by his father who was a judge of the Superior Court of Quebec, the highest trial court in the province. He completed a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from the University of Ottawa and was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1992. Having decided that he wanted the freedom of being his own boss, Jean-Francois established Harvey Law Group (HLG) in Montreal, Quebec in 1992, the day after his call to the bar.
While working with clients living and working in Montreal's Chinatown neighborhood, he was called upon to give his advice on helping clients' friends and family immigrate to Canada for business investment. It was during these early years that Jean-Francois's interest in immigration law took hold, stemming from the desire to help clients achieve greater mobility, business opportunities, and quality of life. For the first 15 years, HLG specialized in investment immigration exclusively to Canada. Eventually, his intuition told him that the market was evolving and sought other options to meet the growing demands of his clients. This same intuition led him to explore new markets and, to some extent, to creating new ones. In 2006, HLG Hong Kong office became the Asia headquarter.
Bastien Trelcat grew up in Saint-Saulve, a small town to the North of France with a population of 11,000 to a traditional close-knitted French family. Born with a twin brother and a sister, he had a simple country-side childhood. As a teenager during the summers, he started his first jobs with his dad renovating houses and destroying walls, making inventories at night or selling mobile phones in local supermarkets as well as organizing activities for kids in outdoor camps his grandfather created in the 60's. By that time, Bastien realized being in France for the rest of his life wasn't what he had imagined his future. He master-minded ways to travel to new places - starting with attending basketball summer leagues at Florida State University and University of Houston at 16 years old. Back in 2000, Bastien started learning mandarin during lunch time while attending law school thinking this could be one day turn out to be useful.
In 2002, he graduated in Provence from Aix-Marseille University at the top of his class. He had just won the Landwell Award with his three best friends and received a full scholarship to City University of Hong Kong, which he accepted without hesitation as China had just accessed the WTO. Between studying and travelling throughout Asia, he received employment in Hong Kong and worked his way as a paralegal for a law firm. After finishing university, Bastien flew back to Paris to attend the Bar School and join a law firm, who requested his transfer to Beijing. Shanghai, China. In China, Bastien assisted the largest French MNCs to invest billion in every single industry of the Middle Kingdom, sometime with simply no legal framework into place. He ended up living in the metropolitan cities in South-East Asia such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, and settled in Bangkok in 2014.
Seven years ago in the summer of 2011, Jean-Francois Harvey and Bastien Trelcat were introduced by a common friend in a gala dinner in Beijing. After exchanging ideas and learning on each other's expertise, the partnership formed very quickly.Shortly after, Jean-Francois Harvey, Global Managing Partner Harvey Law Group and Bastien Trelcat, Managing Partner South-East Asia, joined forces to grow HLG to a firm of over 70 employees and 19 offices worldwide.The long success of HLG, spanning almost three decades, is credited to a client-focused and results-oriented approach.
Today, Harvey Law Group (HLG) is a multinational law firm dealing with corporate law and investment immigration with a worldwide reputation for representing high-profile clients and corporations. HLG was awarded the Immigration Law Firm of The Year at the Annual Macallan ALB Hong Kong Law Awards in 2014 and 2017. Harvey Law Group has notably been offering business Immigration Services for over 26 years, therefore making it one of the oldest firm, and a pioneer in this highly specialized investment immigration industry in Asia Pacific. Currently, HLG offers citizenship-by-investment programs to 23 countries and counting.
Investment immigration, or citizenship-by-investment, is government-approved programs that offer high-net worth individuals the opportunity to invest- and acquire an alternative nationality. It's a trending accessory among multimillionaires, the ultra-rich, and the new rich to be able to travel freely or expand their businesses without boundaries. In essence, an individual can invest money into real estate, business, government bonds, or donate directly to the government; in exchange of a new passport, a new citizenship, and a life as a globe trotter.
"Propelling the Investment Immigration Industry in South-East Asia has never been more exciting. As a commercial lawyer, you often deal with people's existing problems and negotiating the best solutions. As a lawyer specializing in investment immigration, the concept itself is relatively brand new in some countries of South-east Asia. People simply do not know they exist, and even if they do, they consider the idea of investment in mobility too far fetch," commented Bastien Trelcat,"I love seeing the happiness on our clients' faces when we can offer solutions to their families to either relocate or pursuit their dream lives overseas! Now that is what is worth fighting for. By joining HLG, I have joined a firm that embraced my own vision of the world: pushing boundaries. We do not see borders: we see opportunities".
Jean-Francois added, "While we are solidifying our foot print in South-East Asia, notably in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, we need to continue to expand our services regionally notably in Indonesia and Malaysia while exploring new market outside Asia. We will do this as we always do, by first respecting the local expertise and knowledge and by taking it one step at the time. The success we have had so far was based on this proven approach, especially with Cambodia."
"Why the new generation clientsare so interested in getting a second passport," quoted by Jean-Francois Harvey, "is because despite all the technologies, at the end of the day, nothing can replace a face-to-face meeting. While these same technologies are permitting business and individual to expend their market and horizons, they also request greater mobility and one that can be exercise punctually without the need of visas. Hence, the increasing demand for business people to acquire the necessary travel documents to permit them to travel on demand."
HLG has opened offices in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Philippines. The powerhouse duo's next step is in assisting countries with low passport recognition to establish diplomatic and economic relationship, paving ways to improve bilateral visa policies & agreements, to eventually implementing their own residency or citizenship-by-investment programs.
For further inquiries or investment immigration program opportunities, please contact HLG Managing Partner, Mr. Bastien Trelcat,
[email protected] or Ms. Krittiya Keeratiyut, Office Director
[email protected]
Call +6626701848 or visit www.harveylawcorporation.com or
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