EB-5 Visa
EB-5 Green Card Immigrant Foreign Investor
The EB-5 visa for Immigrant Foreign investors is created by the Immigration Act of 1990. This visa provides a method of obtaining immigrant visa for foreign nationals who invests money in the United States.
The foreign investor is required to create an entirely new commercial enterprise. Commercial enterprise means any for-profit activity formed for the ongoing conduct of lawful business including, but not limited to:
- A sole proprietorship
- Partnership (whether limited or general)
- Holding company
- Joint venture
- Corporation
- Business trust or other entity, which may be publicly or privately owned.
The next step to obtain the EB-5 visa is that, the foreign investor must invest $1,000,000 (or at least $500,000 in a "Targeted Employment Area" - high unemployment or rural area). Capital means cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, cash equivalents and indebtedness secured by assets owned by the alien entrepreneur/foreign investor, provided that the alien entrepreneur is personally and primarily liable and that the assets of the new commercial enterprise upon which the petition is based are not used to secure any of the indebtedness. Please note that the petitioning foreign investor cannot use borrowed money for this purpose.
Through such investment the foreign investor must create or preserve at least 10 jobs for U.S. workers excluding the foreign investor and their immediate family. If the foreign national’s foreign investor petition is approved, the foreign investor and their dependents will be granted conditional permanent residence valid for two years. Within the 90 day period before the conditional permanent residence expires, the foreign investor must submit evidence documenting that the full required investment has been made and that 10 jobs have been maintained, or 10 jobs have been created or will be created within a reasonable time period.
