There’s been some discussion about the EB-5 Investor Visa on this blog, without any real discussion of what one should do to acquire an EB-5 visa.
Generally, the EB-5 Investor Visa requires two things (this is VERY general):
1) An initial investment into a new business enterprise of $1,000,000 (one million US dollars) in the United States.
2) And in the process of accomplishing the above, create 10 full time jobs for US citizens or US permanent residents.
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One can reduce the required amount of $1,000,000 to just $500,000 (five hundred thousand dollars) in one of two ways:
a) Invest in a rural area or an area where the employment is 150% of the national average; OR
b) Go through an EB-5 Regional Center.
As noted in other posts, the future of the EB-5 Regional Center has not been decided by the new administration (currently it is set to sunset around March).
And the EB-5 should not be mixed up with the temporary visa E-2. The EB-5 allows the foreign national to acquire permanent residence (along with the immediate family as well).
The grant of permanent residence, is conditional (almost like a marriage greencard). One has to file another petition to make the green card permanent in two years time, where the USCIS will review the petition once more.
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The problem for most people is the amount of capital required (different from the E-2 visa, which doesn’t have a set monetary amount). And the fact that one has to be involved quite a bit in the day to day operations (please compare to the EB-5 Regional Center, which has different requirements).
