EB5- Immigrant Investment program (Green Card) – FAQ
Tell me more about the EB-5 visa program.
You can invest directly or indirectly in each state of the USA.
What does it mean to invest directly or indirectly?
Direct investment:
You control the purchase of your business, banking, and hiring employees for your business or company.
While indirect investment allows foreign investors to invest in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)- designated regional centers. The Regional Center EB-5 program is a subset of the broader EB-5 visa program in the United States. There are regional centers approved by USCIS.
These regional centers are entities or organizations that have received approval from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to promote economic growth, create jobs, and facilitate investments in specific geographic areas.
Key features of the Regional Center EB-5 program:
- Targeted Employment Areas (TEAs): Regional centers are typically located in targeted employment areas, which can be either rural areas with low population or urban areas with high unemployment rates. The minimum investment required for projects located in TEAs is $500,000, which is half of the standard $1 million investment required for projects located in non-TEA areas.
- Job Creation Requirements: Like the standard EB-5 program, the Regional Center EB-5 program also requires the creation of a minimum of 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers per investor. However, in the case of regional centers, job creation can be achieved indirectly through direct, indirect, or induced employment resulting from the investment.
- Passive Investment: One of the key advantages of the Regional Center EB-5 program is that it allows investors to take a more passive role in the investment. Investors do not have to actively manage the business in which they invest, as the regional center’s management typically oversees the project.
- Indirect Investment: Regional center investments are considered indirect investments because the investors contribute their capital to the regional center entity, which then deploys the funds into various qualifying projects. As a result, the investors do not have direct ownership or control over the individual businesses in which the funds are invested.
- Job Pooling: In regional center projects, the job creation requirement can be satisfied by aggregating the job creation across multiple investors in the same project, making it easier to meet the job creation criteria.
To invest in one of these projects through Regional centers, we highly recommend that you do your own due diligence.
Do I need an English test for the EB5 program? No, you do not need.
These regional centers, with the help of foreign investors, invest in building multimillion dollars malls, senior housing, etc.
Do I get my investment back if I invest in a regional center when I apply for a green card for myself and my family? Depends
Contact to speak to Vancouver Immigration attorney at YA Law Corporation.