EB-5 Regional Center

  Process

THE EB-5 PROCESS:
The procedure for obtaining an EB-5 Investor Green Card is relatively straightforward. The investor submits an I-526 application, prepared by an experienced immigration attorney, accompanied by 5 years of tax returns to substantiate the source of investment funds. The funds can be the investor’s own money or in the form of a loan not secured by the EB-5 investment or a gift, which would allow a parent to gift the funds to a son or daughter. Gift taxes, if required in the investor’s home country, must be paid. The investor must also present evidence, through bank transfers and other financial documentation that the invested capital came directly from the investor to the EB-5 enterprise.

After the investor completes their due diligence of the EB-5 project, the investment is made and an investor I-526 petition is filed with USCIS, requiring USCIS to certify that the applicant and the investment are eligible for EB-5 status. The approval of the I-526 petition takes from 4-6 months for Regional Center cases and usually longer for regular program cases. Once USCIS approves the investor’s Green Card, it is conditional for a period of 30 months (two and a half years). Conditional Green Card status confers the same rights as the permanent unconditional Green Card.

Between 21-24 months after the conditional Green Card has been approved, the investor must reconfirm that the investment has been made or is still in place and that the employment requirement has been fulfilled or maintained. An application to remove the conditional Green Card status is filed with USCIS. Once the condition has been removed, an unconditional Green Card is granted for permanent resident status in the United States. From the time of application for the conditional Green Card until approval of the Removal of Conditions, is approximately four years. Thereafter, in approved Regional Center programs, depending on the terms of the agreement, the investment may be sold, and the investor will maintain the permanent Green Card. U.S. Citizenship is possible approximately two and a half years later ( a total of five years after approval of the conditional Green Card), upon satisfaction of U.S. residence.

Quick Links