Girish Mohile is an Associate with D&A based in Mumbai, India. Girish works as local Business Development representative for the firm and acts as liaison between Indian clients and US attorneys on their source of funds. Girish is not licensed to practice law in the United States and nothing in this blog constitutes legal advice.
There are often a number of immigrants and other people who want to permanently live or work or do both in the USA. For this, there are a number of options available to them amongst which, one option is the EB-5 visa which is an investor visa for USA which is particularly a very attractive or lucrative option for individuals who want the freedom to live, work, retire or study anywhere in the United States. The reason why it is called an investor visa is because the participant is required to pay a minimum of $500,000 USD into an investment or Regional Center project in the United States. This minimum amount is set to increase to $900,000 in November.
Another condition of this visa is that your investment should create and sustain at least ten, full-time American jobs. The investment can be made directly by the applicant provided they comply with the EB-5 regulations or they can place their money with a Regional Center which uses the money to fund real estate projects across the United States. According to statistics, more than 94% of EB-5 applicants go for the EB-5 Regional Center option.
The process of applying for an EB-5 visa:
Although the steps for applying for an EB-5 visa are straightforward, difficulty arises with the paperwork and the proof of legitimate funds that are necessary to successfully attain a visa. Thus, throughout the process, it is always an option to have an EB-5 visa attorney to conduct thorough review of all the investor’s documents and keep track of the progress.
The first step is to choose between the 2 avenues available to apply for EB-5 visa i.e. whether to go with a regional center or for direct investment. The next step is filing for an I-526 petition which has all the personal and financial details as well as intended business plan. Finally, when all the information provided is deemed legitimate, the applicant can apply for residency and directly procure green card and citizenship.
Thus, EB-5 is a lucrative and easy option for investors who wish to gain residency and acquire or invest in US-based companies since the process entails very little work and huge rewards for serious investors and applicants for residency.
