Many U.S. immigrants are wondering about the cost of houses in Miami. The fact is that property investment is one of the fastest ways of U.S. immigration, which gets wannabe investors looking for answers to numerous questions.
How does the EB-5 investment program work in practice? How have the conditions changed, and what are today’s deadlines for obtaining a green card?
Table of Contents
The Primary Conditions of the EB-5 Program for the U.S. Immigration
Here are the primary conditions of the EB-5 program. Knowing them will help you with your money management plans.
Investments
- $1,050,000 for a company or regional center project in any state in the United States
- $800,000 – for a project involving a firm or regional center in a rural or TEA (so-called targeted employment area).
Job Creation
The investment must create ten or more full-time, skilled jobs, and the business must not be loss-making (at least at the time of application for a permanent green card).
Requirement for Investors
No criminal record and the ability to show a legitimate source of funds.
If single and economically reliant upon the primary applicant, a spouse and children under 21 may apply for a long-term green card alongside the investor.
The EB-5 Program’s Expenditures
The regional center’s investments look like this.
- The principal amount of investment starts from $ 800,000. The payment is repayable. The return period on investment depends on the project and is five to seven years.
- R.C.’s administrative fee starts from $70,000.
- U.S. immigration lawyer – from $30,000. Responsible for the collection of documents, translation into English, and filing with the U.S. Citizenship and U.S. Immigration Services.
- Government fees start from $8,285 (depending on family composition).
- Support starts at $10,000 (payment is staggered).
What are Regional Centers
RAs are for-profit organizations licensed by U.S. immigration and Citizenship Services to help the economy grow.
Every year the number of R.A.s has grown: in 2007, there were 11 such organizations, in 2019 – 885. But due to the adopted changes in the amount of investment and stricter requirements for R.A.s, their number will, at best, remain the same.
The Benefits of R.C.s for Investors — the EB-5 Program Participants
- the opportunity to invest in large projects (mainly in construction);
- cooperation with reliable developers and banks involved in the project;
- The ability to count indirect jobs, which gives a guarantee of fulfilling the requirement of the visa EB-5 (ten positions);
- The possibility of a passive investment does not require setting up your own business.
The activities of the regional center consist of the selection of projects, execution of documents on the project by the migration service’s requirements, searching for investors, and controlling the developer’s activities to fulfill its obligations to the investor.
Also, working through the regional center makes it possible to make investments passive.
Working under this scheme, you should not count on a high income. It ranges from 0.25 to 1% per annum. R.C.s take almost all of the profit. Their primary responsibility is issuing investors a green card and repaying the invested cash with some profit.
The procedure for obtaining an EB-5 visa for the U.S. Immigration
So, under the program, you can invest in two ways. The first way is the investment in their own business – creating a new or purchasing an existing business – or through regional centers in large investment projects (mainly in construction).
Both options require an investment and a successful business plan describing the creation of ten jobs within 2.5 years of application.
The vast majority of investors choose to obtain a green card through R.A.s. Regional centers handle all the work of preparing project documents and meeting the requirements for the EB-5 program.
In your business, there are a lot of difficulties (you need to have a ready-made business plan, understand sales channels, promotion options, etc.), and costs are usually much higher.
First Option
In the first stage, the applicant consults with an immigration attorney (with EB-5 experience).
The attorney helps the investor prepare the necessary documents and prove the legality of the funds. The source can be dividends paid, income from a sole proprietorship or the sale of real estate, a secured bank loan, a deed of gift, etc.
But the applicant will still have to submit detailed statements to trace the entire path of the received funds to the moment of investment.
Second Option
The investor can also use borrowed funds. If the loan is secured, it is necessary to prove the legality of the source of funds for the pledge.
The next step is to select a project for investment. Our company organizes interviews with regional centers and helps to study the project documentation.
Then an agreement is signed with the selected R.C., and funds are transferred. They are attributed to an NCE, a project-specific new commercial enterprise, from which they are redirected to its implementation.
Then, after the funds are credited, the U.S. immigration attorney gathers a package of documents and files an application with the U.S. Citizenship and U.S. Immigration Services for participation in the program – the I-526 petition. It consists of the personal papers of the investor and records of the project in which he invests.
The timing of the petition depends on the workload of the U.S. Immigration Service. Today you have to wait up to 3.5 years. If you have a valid U.S. visa, the applicant can wait for the decision in the U.S.
Once the petition is approved, the investor receives an entry visa at the U.S. Consulate. This process also takes time – three to nine months.
Once the foreign visitor obtains the visa, They and their relatives can relocate to the States of America, where everyone in the household will be granted temporary green cards for a period of two years. When they expire, an I-829 petition is filed.
In it, the investor reports that the money is in the project, and ten jobs have been created as the program requires. This petition is reviewed for up to 2.5 years. But during this time, the investor may also be present in the U.S. and enjoy green card rights.
Final Step
Finally, when they approve the I-829 petition, the investor and his family are issued a permanent green card which is not limited in time and is no longer tied to the project. The document is valid for ten years. Then you will need to change it.
Your first housing investment in the state of Florida
You can start choosing properties and quickly compare prices by the city in Florida today. Also, you can read more information on the official https://florida.realestate/ website.
Conclusion on U.S. Immigration
In summary, the EB-5 Investment Program offers a pathway to U.S. immigration through property investment. With specific investment requirements and job creation criteria, investors must demonstrate a legitimate source of funds and meet the program’s conditions.
Regional Centers provide benefits such as participation in large projects and passive investment options. It’s essential to consider the costs and timelines involved in the EB-5 visa application process.