It’s an employment-based Immigrant Investor Visa Program, provides a method for eligible immigrant investors to become lawful permanent residents (Informally known as “green card” holders) by investing to finance a business in Unites States that will employ at least 10 American workers. The criterion of 10 American workers does not include the investor and their immediate family. This program affords not only the investor but also their spouse and unmarried children under 21 to become lawful permanent residents.
The EB-5 program is intended to encourage both foreign investments and economic growth.
Applicants have the choice of investing individually or they can choose to work through a larger investor pool via Regional Center (hereafter referred as RC) which are federally approved third-party intermediaries that connect foreign investors with developers in need of funding and take a commission.
If an EB-5 investment is made in a RC, the jobs may be created indirectly through economic activity, as opposed to a direct investment, where the investment vehicle must directly employ the 10 U.S. workers.
This program was created in 1990 by the Immigration Act of 1990. However, by 2015, this program had become an important source of capital for developers and for the RCs. Most investors come from China, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Than its Canada, India, Maxico, Iran and Japan.
$500,000 – For investment in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA)
$1,000,000 – For other areas
Targeted Employment Area: A rural area or area with high unemployment.
Regional Centers: These are usually private, for-profit businesses that are approved by the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (hereafter referred as USCIS) which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The investor must satisfy either of point a) or point b) below in order to qualify for the EB-5 Program.
The United States has decided to effect a steep increase in the application fee for its Immigrant Investor Visa Programme, EB-5.
Although a hike was under consideration since January 2017, the U.S. administration kept pushing the decision, at least half a dozen times, until the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) took a final call on June 29, 2019 after it completed its review of the EB-5 modernisation regulations.
Under the revised scheme, the application fee for projects under Targeted Employment Areas, will go up to $1.35 million from the current $500,000. The standard minimum investment will also rise to $1.8 million from the existing $1 million.
The date of the new fee implementation and details of the final regulation will be known in the next 60 days through a publication in the Federal Register.
Applicants have the choice of investing individually or they can choose to work through a larger investor pool via Regional Center (hereafter referred as RC) which are federally approved third-party intermediaries that connect foreign investors with developers in need of funding and take a commission .
Ventura Pranas has rich experience in helping investors navigate through this process and provide wide range of services to support an EB 5 application.
