Entrepreneurs (and their spouses and unmarried children under 21) who make an investment in a commercial enterprise in the United States and who plan to create or preserve ten permanent full time jobs for qualified United States workers, are eligible to apply for a green card (permanent residence). 
Up to 10,000 visas may be authorized each fiscal year for eligible entrepreneurs.

You must invest $1,000,000, or at least $500,000 in a targeted employment area (high unemployment or rural area).  In return, USCIS may grant conditional permanent residence to the individual.

Eligibility Criteria

You may be eligible to receive permanent residence based on investment if:

• You have an approved Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur
• You are admissible to the United States
• An immigrant visa is immediately available

Application Process

If You Are Living Outside the United States
You can become a permanent resident through consular processing if you live outside the United States. Consular processing is when USCIS works with the Department of State to issue a visa on an approved Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, petition when a visa is available. 

If You Are Living in the United States
You can become a conditional permanent resident through adjustment of status if you live inside the United States. Once the Form I-526 is approved and a visa number is available, you can apply for conditional permanent residence on Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status.

Family of Entrepreneurs

Your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21, (known as derivatives) may be included on your immigration petition.  If they are residing in the US, they will each need to file a Form I-485. They are counted towards the annual cap of 10,000.

Work & Travel Authorization

Generally, when you have a pending Form I-485, it is possible for you to apply for authorization to work in the United States and to seek advance parole (advance permission to travel and be admitted to the United States upon your return). For further information, see the “Work Authorization” and “Travel Documents” links to the left under “Green Card Processes & Procedures.”

Below is a typical process under the current immigration policy:  Changes in the law and other policies may affect the process during an application.

EB5 REGIONAL CENTER PROCEDURES TIMELINE

·          Investor chooses a regional center for investment, signs the subscription agreement, limited partnership agreement, deposits $500,000 plus regional center processing fees, then investor’s immigration attorney prepares the petition I-526 for filing.

·          Attorney submits the petition for processing

·          Upon approval of the petition (processing times change, for the latest processing times, see the Citizenship and Immigration Services current processing dates on www.uscis.gov), if the investor is outside the U.S., then the file is sent to the designated U.S. Embassy for further processing, if the investor is legally in the U.S., then an adjustment of status application is filed within the U.S., investor gets a work permit while the adjustment of status is processing.

·          Upon grant of permanent residence, investor is issued a two year temporary green card.  After two years, investor shall file I-829 to remove conditions from the green card to make it permanent.