“Hi this is immigration attorney Abhisha Parikh, and today I am going to be discussing the EB5 investor visas. The EB5 requires any foreign investor, regardless of their nationality, to invest either half a million or a million dollars in order for them to be able to come to the US and acquire a green card. The three main requirements are 1) it has to be an investment in either a business existing, or a new business. 2) investment has to be minimum of a million dollars if it is in a normally populated area, or half a million if it is in a targeted employment area(also known as TEA). and 3) Investor must employ at least 10 US workers in their enterprise. The EB5 allows 10,000 investors a year to obtain a visa. In reality, the numbers are much lower. Reports state that less than a 1000 visas are adjudicated. Which tells you how complicated the EB5 processing is. This is a traditional EB5. There is another element that allows an investor to invest half a million for a regional center. Regional centers are designated areas approve by the US immigration services to attract investments from foreigners to be able to develop land, a project or any other program that has been approved by the government. This option allows the investor to put money into the fund without actually being involved in the managing or working in the front of the business. There are many regional centers in the US, close to 100, and there is a list of all the centers on the USCIS website. Each center has its own requirements and qualifications for its investors, but they all come to the same purpose. To take the funds from the investors, and at the end of the process grant the investor permanent residency into US. The process initially allows an investor to take a conditional green card for three years, and after 2 years of the 3 years, they have the ability to remove the conditions by filing another application as long as they maintain and contain the funds in the project. Once the conditions have been removed, the green card is issued for 10 years. The EB5 program requires the involvement of immigration attorneys, business attorneys, economists and even financial experts. It is strongly advised that if you consider applying for a EB5 visa, you seek the advise of a professional before doing so. In the instance that you have a successful EB5 application, you can benefit by immigrating to the US under a green card, not just for yourself but this will also benefit your immediate family members. In return, you are benefiting the US economy by creating jobs and opportunities for US workers in the enterprise. “
