Information about the Eb-5 visa

Eb-5 visa is a swift way to obtain your green card for your and your immediate family members. It doesn’t requires certain education, experience or anything else other then obtaining the legal age to enter into a legal transaction, prove of source of income and lack of any inadmissibility issues such as certain deceases, previous illegal stay in the US, crimes, etc.

An alien entrepreneur once approved upon applying form I- 526 petition, he/she can adjust their legal status with USCIS which grants them permanent residence for a 2 year period, after that the investor should file form I- 829 three months prior to the 2 year approval expiration date to grant them a permanent status for themselves and their families. The investor should provide documents that prove that they invested in a new commercial business and invested an amount of $ 500,000 or one million dollars based on the geographical area and that the new commercial business will create at least 10 full time direct jobs for the 1 million or 10 indirect jobs for the $500,000 investment.

Proving Source of income of Eb-5 visa applicants.

Moreover, the investor must prove his source of income. This can be a hard task to achieve for many investors especially that immigration denials are because of lack of the investor’s ability to prove his source of income.

source of income can be proved in different ways. For an example a professional such as a doctor can show his previous deposits during a long period of time which accumulated to the requested amount of investment. An inheritance can be another way of showing source of income. A gift from a siblings or a parent can also be proven by showing the source of income from the grantor or the person giving the gift. Same applies to business owners who can prove their source of income by linking both the personal and business account together. In other words, the business owner must show or prove that the money that is in his personal bank account was a direct result of his business operations.

Children less than 21 years of age

Usually, the beneficiary of the Eb-5 petition (the investor) can sponsor or apply for his/her immediate family members, such as spouse and children. The children must be less then 21 years of age at the time the I-526 (the initial temporary green card application) was filed. The children may be protected in some cases even if child reaches 21 while the petition is still pending with the USCIS.

EB- 5 Regional center

A new program for investors which is called the investor pilot program , utilizes a regional center which is an economic unit enhancing growth and job creation, whose organizers must prove their impact on the local or national economy . Two forms which are I-924 or I-924 A are used for an investor to apply which could take up to 10 months for approval.

The regional center can be terminated by the USCIS if not found feasible or fraud has been detected , and there is no guarantee by the government to change the investor’s legal status.

Immigrant investor regional centers

A list of regional centers is available listed by state alphabetically , and the approval of an EB-5 regional center application by the USCIS doesn’t necessarily mean endorsement and doesn’t minimize risk to the investor

Questions and Answers : EB- 5 Economic methodologies

USCIS provides clarification to 2 main questions : 1- For projects that involve hotel development , the investor should provide proof that the development has resulted in an increase in visitor’s spending and thus resulted in the raising of employment in the area.

2- A regional center may use funds provided by EB- 5 investor to purchase real estate which could result in an increase in employment.