Immigrant Investors • The investor must be present at the inception of the enterprise and be active in a managerial role. • The investor must be active in the day-to-day operations of the business. • Direct employment creation must take place for your investment to be considered successful. In an EB-5 regional center investment… • You must invest $500,000 in a pre-approved regional center depending on the zone if underdeveloped. • You do not have to invest in a new business. • You do not have to be present at the inception of the business. • Your role in the business needs to be managerial in nature but no direct management is required. • You can create new jobs in an indirect and direct manner.
NAWRB: What is the minimum investment required? Marcelle Poirier: Depending on the area, it can range from $500,000 to $1,000,000. NAWRB: How long does the application process take? Marcelle Poirier: It takes about two months to make the investment, gather the necessary documents, and file the petition. Most petitions are approved in about 16 months. Upon approval, the investor can then apply for adjustment of status in the U.S. or an immigrant visa overseas depending if the investor has a non-immigrant visa. Adjustment of status for EB-5 cases can be processed in about 12 months, but can sometimes take longer. The immigrant visa at the American consulate requires about 8-12 months. After being granted, it usually only takes a few weeks or months for the conditional green card to arrive. NAWRB: Can qualified individuals from any country apply or are there restrictions based on citizenship?
NAWRB: What are the benefits of investing in Regional Center projects? Marcelle Poirier: The major advantage of the regional center as compared with an individual EB-5 investment is that indirect employment creation is allowed. In many cases, the sole remaining issues are tracing the funds from the investor to the regional center and proving the lawful source of the investor’s funds. This eliminates the need to deal with the many complicated issues involved in an individual EB-5 petition for which the investment enterprise has not been pre-approved, such as whether the investment entity qualifies as a "new commercial enterprise," whether the investment is in a "troubled business," and whether the requisite "direct employment creation" has taken place. However, the investor does not retain any control over the investment. NAWRB: How many EB-5 visas may be issued per year? Marcelle Poirier: 10,000
Marcelle Poirier: Legally, yes. Note, people from countries that do not have reliable tax and other financial documentation will find it much more difficult to prove an EB-5 visa application; however, it can usually be done due to the source of funds. NAWRB: What is the most common reason for rejection of an EB-5 visa application? Marcelle Poirier: The most common problem area has been insufficient documentation of the source of funds. Many people try to disclose the least possible information only to have the file returned with a request for further information. It is better to provide too much information rather than too little information. In this era of terror alerts, and suspicions about money laundering, CIS case examiners require a well-documented source of funds. NAWRB: Regarding this visa, can you give an example of a difficult case you had to handle and explain? Marcelle Poirier: The most difficult cases always involve tracing the source of funds to the investors on a personal level and to ensure that the funds invested were allocated to the business venture. NAWRB MAGAZINE |
37