The EB-5 U.S. investment visa application is being handled by a team of professionals who know and are really familiar with financials and investments. There are various steps that an applicant need to consider and take into account when doing EB5 and there’s two sides to it, the investment side and the immigration side. Both of these sides need to come together to ensure that the investor will have an airtight, foolproof and approvable application. Once those two things come together, the investor submits an I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur.
EB-5 funds, which is one of the main basis for this application can be a loan or gift funds, a secured loan or a parent giving a gift to a son or daughter so long as the money needs to be investor’s own money during the time of the application. It can also be a gift given by investor parents to their children attending college or universities under the F-1 Visa which are either graduating soon or graduated from their degree program and are on temporary work visa such as Optional Practical Training or OPT or H-1B. Should these students or recent graduates wish not to go home to their own country and just prefer to settle permanently in the U.S., there are parents who really fund an EB-5 application for their U.S. based children. Processing time of an I-526 application range between 16-18 months. As soon as it is approved and if they are legally present in the U.S., the investor is given a conditional green card. A consular process may also happen in their home country where the conditional green card is given and issued upon entry to the U.S. A conditional green card is pretty much the same thing as a permanent Green Card. It gives the investor applicant the same rights and privileges as that of a permanent resident in the U.S. The family can attend school, college, start a business and settle down in the U.S. just like anyone else and this temporary green card is valid for 2 years. After the 2 years under the conditional permanent residency status, the investor should get the documentation from the Regional Center showing how their investment created those 10 full-time jobs. Once this is available, the investor’s lawyer would then fille a I-829 Petition by Entrepreneur to remove conditions on Permanent Resident Status and upon approval, the investor as well as his or her family is granted unconditional or a permanent green card.For I-829, the processing ranges from 18-20 months and while it is pending, the investor’s conditional green card becomes automatically extended. This means while this request or petition is in process, the investor’s legal status in the U.S. is not affected. For non-Chinese investors, with the current processing time, from I-526 to I-829, the whole process, application and approval of a permanent green card may time up to 5-6 years in total. In addition to all this, the investor is unable to file the I-526 application unless the EB-5 investment is made especially if they are going to the route of the Regional Center. The Regional Center will only issue the I-526 packet upon investment and this packet is a requirement of the I-526 application. Once the permanent green card is released, the investor still needs to wait about 1-2 years to get their money back. Find out more about how to get an EB5 visa here. |