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The EB5 Visa Allows Foreign Investors and their Families to Live and Work in The United States

If you and your family want to become legal permanent residents of the USA (get a green card) and you can afford to invest $500,000 in one of the Government approved EB5 programs you could be living legally in America in six months. Through this EB5 green card program, you and your family will receive green cards and will be able to live anywhere in the USA. Your children can attend all American schools, colleges and universities under this program. USAInvestco can provide you investments that are structured to meet EB-5 requirements so you can get your green card quickly.

Introduction to The EB5 Visa Program

  • The United States Congress created a new employment-based immigration policy in 1990 to allow foreign entrepreneurs to invest in new commercial job-creating enterprises in exchange for an expedited lawful permanent resident immigration status.
  • The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allocates 10,000 immigrant visas (green cards) each year to qualified individuals seeking to obtain permanent residence in the U.S. on the basis of their investment in a qualified U.S. enterprise.
  • In less than a year, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program offers a green card for the applicant, their spouse, and all unmarried children under the age of 21.
  • If an investor’s EB-5 petition is approved, the investor and dependents may apply for two-year conditional resident status. During the conditional period, the investor must continue to satisfy all EB-5 Visa requirements in order to qualify for a removal of conditions.

Highlights of the EB-5 Visa Program

  • A direct route to a Green Card
  • Permanent Residency in the United States for you, your spouse and any children under the age of 21
  • Freedom to live, work and retire anywhere in the United States
  • US Citizenship route after 5 years of being a Green Card holder
  • Children may attend college/university at U.S resident costs

The EB-5 Visa

Congress created the EB-5 immigrant investor visa category in the Immigration Act of 1990 in the hopes of attracting foreign capital to the US and creating jobs for American workers in the process. There are 10,000 visas available in the category each year, 5,000 of which are reserved for people who participate in a EB-5 pilot program designed to target low employment areas. There are three basic requirements for an EB-5 visa:

  • the alien must establish a business or invest in an existing business that was created or restructured after November 19, 1990
  • the alien must have invested $1 million (only $500,000 when investing in a USCIS designated regional center) in the business
  • the business must create full-time employment for at least 10 US workers

EB-5 Investment

The EB-5 visa investment can be in the form of cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, cash equivalents and indebtedness secured by assets owned by the alien provided that he or she is personally and primarily liable and the assets of the new commercial enterprise are not used to secure any of the indebtedness. The definition specifically excludes capital acquired by unlawful means. The basic EB5 Visa investment amount is $1 million. The required investment is $500,000 for a business established in a "targeted employment area." Targeted employment areas include:

  • rural areas, defined as any area other than one within a metropolitan statistical area or within the boundary of a city or town with a population of 20,000 or more; and
  • areas having an unemployment rate that is at least 150% of the national average.

Each state notifies the INS of the qualifying areas within the state. The current regulations set the required investment for a targeted employment area at $500,000. Aliens can invest the required amount alone, create the qualifying business with another immigrant investor, or even create the business with US citizens or other people not seeking classification as an immigrant investor. In such cases, each person seeking classification as an immigrant investor must have invested the required amount, but each person can use the same employees to reach the required 10 new positions.

EB-5 Visa Job Creation

The EB-5 Visa investment must create at least 10 full-time jobs for US citizens, lawful permanent residents or other immigrants lawfully authorized to be employed in the United States. Full-time employees are defined to include workers working at least thirty-five hours per week. This includes conditional residents, temporary residents, asylees, refugees, and recipients of suspension of deportation, but does not include nonimmigrants. In calculating the required number of employment positions, the investor may not include spouses or children, but may include other family members who are employed by the business.

The 10 positions must be full time. This means employment of a qualified employee in a position that requires a minimum of 35 working hours per week. Although two employees may share a full-time position, part-time employment is specifically excluded. Therefore, a combination of two or more part-time positions will not qualify, even if they collectively meet the 35-hour per week requirement.