Green card within your grasp
From limitless work opportunities and top-rated education to exceptional living standards, the USA is an easy choice for those looking beyond just a simple investment. The EB5 Investment Visa grants applicants and their family members the right to permanently live in the United States, for a minimum EB5 investment amount, with the ability to receive your contribution back after the investment project is completed.
Our team will accompany you every step of the way to ensure your residency by investment application in the USA is successful and you choose one of the best EB5 investment projects. With the investor visa USA, a dedicated account manager will provide you with the knowledge needed to make a sound investment and ensure you fulfill all the requirements.
There are ample reasons to choose the EB5 US investment visa. The visa program grants you and your spouse and children the right to live, work, pursue education and retire in the United States. Citizenship by naturalization is possible, provided you hold a permanent residence permit and your foreign investment for the duration of your visa.
To be eligible for the United States of America EB5, you must make a lawful capital investment in a government-approved enterprise. The EB5 investment amount is to invest at least $1 million (or $500,000 if investing in a Targeted Employment Area). Moreover, you need to create or save ten permanent full-time jobs for U.S. workers, have a clean criminal record, be in good health, and live six months per year in the USA.
EB5 Visa Program 2021 The Ultimate Guide by Experts
We offer a service tailored to your specific needs and requirements. Our team of experts will work diligently from start to finish, ensuring a successful application. Professionalism and integrity are at the core of all we do.
There are several basic requirements that determine your eligibility for the scheme.
You must:
You must make a lawful capital investment in an enterprise that equals or is greater than $1.8 million. The investment cost is $900,000 if investing in a Targeted Employment Area ‘TEA’.
Capital means cash, equipment, inventory, cash equivalents, other tangible property, and indebtedness that is secured by assets that are owned by the immigrant investor if they are personally and primarily liable, and the assets of the new commercial enterprise upon which the petition is based are not used to secure any of the indebtedness.
Capital is valued at a fair-market price in US dollars. Assets that are acquired, either directly or indirectly, by unlawful means, are not considered capital.
It is important to note that investors will need to establish that they are the legal owner of the invested capital. Under certain conditions, capital can include a promise to pay (a promissory note).
The EB5 minimum investment amount by filling date and the investment location are shown in the table below.
| Petition Filing Date | Minimum EB5 Investment | Targeted Employment Area EB5 Visa Investment Amount | High-Employment Area Investment Amount |
| Before 11/21/2019 | $1,000,000 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 |
| On or After 11/21/2019 | $1,800,000 | $900,000 | $1,800,000 |
Further adjustments are tied to inflation and occur every five years.
The TEA requirements are as follows:
A map of all TEAs can be found here.
TEA designation is applicable to EB5 direct investment projects that are located in a rural area of the country OR in a high unemployment area, with a national unemployment average of 150%.
A rural area is any area that is not within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA), as designated by the Office of Management and Budget, or within the outer boundary of any city or town that has a population of 20,000 individuals, according to the most recent decennial census in the USA.
A high unemployment area needs to fit the following criteria: an area where the new commercial enterprise is principally doing business and the area has experienced an average unemployment rate of at least 15% of the national average unemployment rate.
So, you’ve made your EB5 investment. However, will your capital be refunded in full, or will you acquire an attractive rate of return on your money? Sadly, there are no guarantees possible, but this does not necessary that investors are taking an unnecessary risk.
There are certain steps that you can make to ensure that you make a strong investment. This includes the capital stack and developer equity which shows skin-in-the-game. For the USA EB5 visa, contributions are normally classified in the first position in the capital stack and are therefore fully secured by the equity in EB5 investment projects.
Another aspect to consider in order to determine the profitability of your investment is to focus some attention on your exit strategy. This must match with your I-829 filing date, the time at which your investment is no longer classified as being “at-risk”. While this is difficult to determine, add some cushion to your time calculations to help alleviate some of the risks.
Generally, an EB5 visa isn’t one that usually reaps a high rate of return. However, since the market is constantly evolving, legitimate investments are offering better returns on investments than before.
Job creation requirements are as follows:
Foreign investment in a new commercial enterprise that must create ten full-time direct jobs to qualify for the EB5 Visa program.
Up until 30 June last year, investors were able to invest in regional centers, but this has been suspended. However, this may be reauthorized before or on March 11, 2022, by Congress. As such, we have included information on the regional centers here.
An EB5 regional center is an entity that sets aside EB5 visas for foreign investors and is designated by immigration services USCIS (the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to foster economic growth.
For a new commercial enterprise that is not located in a regional center, ten full-time positions need to be created. This means that the commercial enterprise, or its subsidiaries that it wholly owns, must be the employer of the qualifying employees.
For a new commercial enterprise that is located within a regional center, the commercial enterprise can directly or indirectly create ten full-time positions.
Troubled businesses are those that have existed for at least two years and have incurred a net loss during the 12-month or 24-month period prior to the priority date on the immigrant investor’s form I-526. The loss for this time period must be at least 20% of the troubled business’ net worth before the loss in capital. The USCIS will consider successors in interest to the troubled business when determining whether the troubled business has been in existence for two years. The USCIS will also evaluate whether they have been in existence for the same time period as the business they succeeded.
When a troubled business is in question, then the EB5 investor may rely on job maintenance. The investor will need to present that the number of employees there are or will be, is no less than the pre-investment level for a period of two years.
Included: A qualifying employee is a US citizen, a lawful permanent resident in the USA, or another immigrant that is authorized to work in the US. This includes a conditional or temporary resident, asylee, refugee, or a person that is residing in the US under suspension of deportation.
Not included: Immigrant EB5 investors, their spouses, children, or any noncitizen in any nonimmigrant status, or anyone that is not authorized to work in the US.
Full-time employment: This means that the employment of a qualifying employee in the new commercial enterprise must be working in a position that requires a minimum of 35 hours per week. For regional center programs, full-time employment can also mean the employment for the qualified person is in a position that has been created indirectly but that requires a minimum of 35 working hours per week.
Jobs that are temporary, seasonal, intermittent, or transient do not qualify as permanent full-time jobs. Employment that is expected to last at least two years is generally not considered as temporary, seasonal, intermittent, or transient.
The USA has long led the way — from technology to investments —which is not surprising given that the USA offers the largest consumer market in the world with a GDP of $20 trillion, and with household spending accounting for more than a quarter of global household consumption.
There are several benefits of living in America and for opting for the USA EB5 Visa category, including the following:
1. Research
Take time to do your homework on the process of obtaining the EB5 Visa. Understand your investment and the direct EB5 investment options open to you. Bear in mind that the entire process can take up to eight years.
2. Select your investment route
Choose from qualifying EB5 investment projects that meet the EB5 program requirements. Consider two outcomes: acquiring residency in the USA and return of capital. Once you decide on a project, reserve a spot in the New Commercial Enterprise. Additional advice would be to hire an immigration attorney to conduct a due diligence check on your desired project. EB5 investment companies can also help with determining good investment routes for you.
3. Invest
Send your funds to escrow and submit your I-526 petition. Approximately ten days after this date, you will receive a receipt notice from the USCIS (the body that processes your investment) that will confirm that they have received your case. The date from which they receive your case is referred to as your official priority date.
4. Receive conditional residency
Given that you pass the visa interview process with the Visa Consular, you will then receive a temporary immigrant visa which will be stamped on your passport. With this stamp, you will be able to move to the USA and apply for a green card. This card is valid for a two-year period. During this timeframe, you must meet all the conditions of the EB5 program, including creating ten jobs with your investment, having your money classified as -at-risk throughout the two-year conditional residency period, and residing in the USA for at least a year. If the USCIS deems you eligible to receive your money back at the end of the conditional period, then your money is normally no longer considered -at-risk.
5. Conditions are removed and full residency is attained
In the last 90 days of your conditional residency status, your lawyer will file your I-829 petition. The application provides proof that you have fulfilled all the requirements of the program. Once you have completed your temporary residency, you are eligible to receive your investment back. After this, you can live permanently in the country with a permanent green card.
The road to permanent residency through the EB5 USA investment visa takes, on average, four to six years, from choosing your project to securing permanent residence status.
1-3 months: Begin your research and your EB-5 journey
10 months-2 years: Wait for application approval
3-6 months: I-526 accepted, priority date obtained, apply for a conditional green card
2 years: Start conditional residency
24 to 30 months: Apply for permanent residency
As the documents required for filing are extensive, we highly recommend seeking help from a specialist consultant to assist you with your EB5 Visa application.
Project documentation for an EB5 immigrant investor
General documentation
Financial documentation
Conditional permanent resident status card
Translations
All documents in a foreign language must be accompanied with a full English language translation. This needs to be certified by a competent translator.
Copies
Unless an original document is specifically required to be filed with an application or petition, a photocopy may be submitted. Original documents submitted will remain a part of the record, even if the submission was not required.
An EB5 immigrant investor is automatically considered a US resident alien for tax reasons. This essentially means that all income from the US and elsewhere in the world is subject to USA taxes.
Just in case, anyone that is planning to pursue an EB5 Investor Visa should make a note of the days that they are physically present in the USA by taking the Substantial Presence Test. This will establish whether you are a US tax resident based upon your physical presence in the country.
Global Citizen Solutions offer a service tailored to your specific needs and requirements. Our team of experts will work diligently from start to finish, ensuring a successful application. Professionalism and integrity are at the core of all we do.
Visit our website here.
For more information, you can read more in the following articles:
Yes, the EB-5 investor visa USA program is still available?
An EB-5 investment is an immigrant US investor visa program that allows immigrant investors to gain a permanent green card in return for a qualifying investment and the creation of ten jobs.
To be eligible for the US EB5, you must make a lawful capital investment in a government-approved enterprise that amounts to at least $1 million (or a $500k investment if investing in a Targeted Employment Area). In addition to this, you will need to create or save ten permanent full-time jobs for U.S. workers, have a clean criminal record, be in good health, and live six months per year in the USA.
No, you cannot buy US citizenship. The EB5 is not a citizenship by investment scheme. This means you cannot directly get citizenship. However, you can apply for a US passport after being a permanent residency in the country for five years.
So, a green card holder can obtain citizenship by naturalization, provided that all requirements are met beforehand.
In essence, the EB5 Visa provides permanent US residency and citizenship by naturalization when a person invests an EB5 minimum investment of $1 million (or $500,000 if investing in a Targeted Employment Area). In addition to this, you will need to create or save ten permanent full-time jobs for U.S. workers, have a clean criminal record, be in good health, and live six months per year in the USA.
Other US green card visas could also be a good option for you if you are not looking to secure residency by investment. Each will have different criteria, such as the work visa USA requirements where you will need to have a job offer in the USA, an approved petition by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and a Labor certification that has been approved by the Department of Labor.
