EB5 Visa - Green Card by investment
One of the fastest and most effective routes to a Green Card, which offers freedom to live, work, study or retire anywhere in America.
EB5 Visa: Green Card by investment
The EB5 Visa offers US permanent residency in exchange for an investment in a qualifying project in the United States.
The EB-5 Visa is one of the fastest and most effective routes to a Green Card, which offers freedom to live, work, study or retire anywhere in America.
Investors have the option to make their own investment under the Direct EB5 route or to invest through the Regional Center program.
EB5 Visa Application Process
The information below is obtained via USCIS website provides an overview of the EB-5 petition and application process for immigrating to the United States.
Step 1
File Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, or Form I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor.
If an immigrant visa is immediately available to you, you may file Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, together with your Form I-526 or Form I-526E, while your Form I-526 or Form I-526E is pending, or after your Form I-526 or Form I-526E is approved. To make sure that an immigrant visa is immediately available to you when you file your Form I-485, see the Visa Availability and Priority Dates and Adjustment of Status Filing Charts from the Visa Bulletin pages on our website as well as the Visa Bulletin.
Step 2
After USCIS approve your Form I-526 or Form I-526E petition, either:
– File DS-260, Application for Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration, with the U.S. Department of State to obtain an EB-5 visa abroad to seek admission to the United States; or
– File Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, with USCIS (if you did not already file Form I-485 prior to Form I-526 or Form I-526E approval) to adjust status to a conditional permanent resident within the United States. Once we approve your Form I-485 application or upon admission into the United States with an EB-5 immigrant visa, we will grant conditional permanent residence to the EB-5 investor and derivative family members for a two-year period.
Step 3
File Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, within the 90-day period immediately before the second anniversary of your adjustment of status or admission to the United States as a conditional permanent resident.
Step 4
If USCIS approves this petition, we will remove the conditions from your lawful permanent resident status and from that of any dependents you included.
EB5 Visa things to know
The information below is obtained via USCIS website provides an overview of the EB-5 petition and application process for immigrating to the United States.
Benefits of EB5 Visa
- Fast Route to US permanent residency (Green Card)
- Relatively cost-effective compared with other similar countries
- Creates jobs and investment in America
- Freedom to live, work, study and retire in the United States
- Eligible family unit can be included in a single investment
- While capital is at risk, there is a strong change on getting your money returned if you effective conduct due diligence on your investment
- The EB5 Regional Center program offers support with all necessary compliance
- Possible to make and manage investment yourself”
EB5 Visa Requirements
Investment requirement
- The minimum investment requirement for an EB5 visa is $1,050,000 in the United States. However, if you invest in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), the minimum investment is $800,000. TEAs are areas with high unemployment or rural areas
Job creation requirement:
- Create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years (or under certain circumstances, within a reasonable time after the two-year period) of the immigrant investor’s admission to the United States as a Conditional Permanent Resident.
Create or preserve either direct or indirect jobs:
- Direct jobs are actual identifiable jobs for qualified employees located within the commercial enterprise into which the EB5 investor has directly invested his or her capital.
- Indirect jobs are those jobs shown to have been created collaterally or as a result of capital invested in a commercial enterprise affiliated with a regional center by an EB5 investor. A foreign investor may only use the indirect job calculation if affiliated with a regional center.
How EB5 Visa can lead to US Citizenship
In order to be naturalized as a US citizen a permanent resident who obtained their green card through EB5 must demonstrate:
- The applicant has held a conditional or “full” green card for a period of five (5) years
- During the five years immediately prior to the naturalization application being filed the applicant spent 50% of their time (i.e. 2.5 years) in the US.
- They were not absent from the US for periods of time exceeding six (6) months. Absent very compelling evidence that there was no intent to abandon residency an absence of six months will cause the 5 year residency period to re-start.
- Absent special permission in advance of the trip from USCIS (A RE-ENTRY PERMIT IS NOT SUFFICIENT FOR THIS PURPOSE) the applicant was not outside the US for a continuous period of one year while in permanent residency status. Spending more than one year outside the US will cause the five-year residency period to re-start and compelling evidence of an intention not to abandon US residency will not be considered.
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About Davies & Associates
Our Unique Selling Point (USP) sets us apart. We deliver unmatched quality and innovation, ensuring exceptional value for our customers.
Access to team of industry-leading EB5 lawyers
Each highly experienced with a specific area of the law:
- A local immigration lawyer
- A real estate lending or finance lawyer
- A specialist US Source of Funds documentation lawyer
- A senior US visa attorney
Cost Effective Solutions for your Goals
We help our clients meet their personal and business goals by providing them with the very best and most cost-effective immigration solutions available.
Global solution, local support
Our team operates globally to provide the local support that our clients need to prosper in their new home.
Why make Davies & Associates Your EB5 Lawyers?
Davies & Associates is one of the longest-established EB5 law firms in the industry and our team regularly contribute to the global media on the subject. We have helped hundreds of families, business owners and entrepreneurs relocate to America and have never had a case rejected on Source of Funds, which is one of the most challenging aspects of an EB5 application. Click here to meet some of our EB5 clients. Our success helping clients demonstrate they meet EB5 visa requirements comes from blending our highly qualified lawyers with an understanding of the culture, law, business practices and banking regulations in each jurisdiction we operate.
Our success comes from the strength of the unique team of lawyers we place around every client
Each Davies & Associates client is assigned a team of industry-leading EB5 lawyers each highly experienced with a specific area of the law. Our client EB5 teams typically include:
- A local EB5 lawyer versed in the currency laws and practices of the countries from which a clients funds are to be sourced
- A real estate lending or finance lawyer to assist with project due diligence
- A specialist US Source of Funds documentation lawyer
- A senior EB5 attorney responsible for supervising the filing and submission of each client’s case
The minimum investment requirement for an EB5 visa is $1,050,000 in the United States. However, if you invest in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), the minimum investment is $800,000. TEAs are areas with high unemployment or rural areas.
EB5 applicants must prove that the funds used for their investment come from legitimate sources. These sources can include property sales, investments, salaries, dividends, commercial sales, and gifts.
Form I-526 is known as the Immigrant Petition by Alien Investor. It’s the application form for the EB5 program where you document your source of funds. USCIS evaluates your eligibility based on this form.
Form I-829 is the petition by the investor to remove conditions on their permanent resident status. This is the stage where an EB5 visa holder applies to have the conditions on their Green Card removed.
A targeted employment area is a location that qualifies for the reduced minimum investment of $800,000. It can be either a rural area or an area with unemployment of at least 150% of the national average rate. Previously, individual states could designate high unemployment status, but from November 2019, the Department of Homeland Security allows such designations at the I-526 petition stage and requires evidence like a TEA opinion letter.
If your EB5 case is experiencing unreasonable delays, you can explore options to expedite the process, such as Senatorial complaints, using the USCIS Ombudsman, or even filing a Writ of Mandamus.
A Writ of Mandamus is a legal course of action to address unreasonable delays in processing your EB5 application. It involves filing a lawsuit in a federal court to determine if your case has been unreasonably delayed.
Davies & Associates offers expertise in EB5 with over 10 years of experience, a track record of 100% approvals for I-526, more than 1,000 successful EB5 Visas obtained for clients, 100% success with Source of Funds, and experience with both Direct EB5 and Regional Center programs.
If you have any questions about any of these topics, please feel free to contact us at Davies & Associates, and we’ll be happy to assist you.
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