EB5 Requirements, What Are They?

IMMIGRANT INVESTOR VISAS ARE FOR PERSONS WHO HAVE $1MILLION OR $1/2MILLION DOLLARS TO INVEST. THERE ARE FOUR BASIC SETS OF REQUIREMENTS: 1.) INVEST QUALIFYING FUNDS, 2.) IN A NEW ENTERPRISE, 3.) CREATION OF 10 NEW JOBS, 4.) MANAGEMENT OF THE ENTERPRISE:

Formally referred to as “employment creation visas, the alien must meet standards set out in the 1990 Act. The USCIS has issued regulations to elaborate on those standards.

• The investor must invest or be actively in the process of investing at least $1 million in an enterprise, except capital investment in rural and high unemployment areas may be $1/2 million.
• The enterprise must benefit the US economy and must create full-time employment for not less than ten US workers (including citizens), permanent residents, or other “immigrants lawfully authorized to be employed in the United States,” but not immediate family members of the alien investor).
• The investment must be made in a “new commercial enterprise” or a “troubled business”.
• The investor must be engaged in the management of the enterprise, either through day-to-day managerial control or through policy formulation.
• More than one investor may obtain immigration status through the same investment enterprise each making the required investment.
• Conditional Permanent Residence. The investor is granted conditional permanent residence for two years. The provisions intended to deter fraud by investors who do not intend to maintain an ongoing, employment-creating enterprise once they have become permanent residents. The alien must file a petition within ninety days prior to the two-year anniversary requesting that the conditional basis of his or her residence be removed. Failure to file the petition results in termination of status and deportation.