Visa for Investors
 
Immigrant Visa - Immigration Through Investment:
Overview:
There are 10,000 immigrant visas per year available to qualified individuals seeking permanent resident status on the basis of their engagement in a new commercial enterprise. Of the 10,000 investor visas (i.e., EB-5 visas) available annually, 5,000 are set aside for those who apply under a pilot program involving a CIS-designated “Regional Center.” A "Regional Center" is an entity, organization or agency that has been approved as such and focuses on a specific geographic area within the United States, seeking to promote economic growth through increased export sales, improved regional productivity, creation of new jobs, and increased domestic capital investment.
General Eligibility:
Eligible aliens are those who have invested -- or are actively in the process of investing -- the required amount of capital into a new commercial enterprise that they have established. They must further demonstrate that this investment will benefit the United States economy and create the requisite number of full-time jobs for qualified persons within the United States.
In general, "eligible individuals" include those:

    1. Who establish a new commercial enterprise by:

        •    creating an original business;
        •    purchasing an existing business and simultaneously
 or subsequently restructure or reorganize the business such that a new commercial enterprise results; or
        •    expanding an existing business by 140 percent of the 
 pre-investment number of jobs or net worth, or retain all existing jobs in a troubled business that has lost 
20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months;

    2. Who have invested, or who are actively in the process of investing,
  in a new commercial enterprise:
        •    at least $1,000,000, or
        •    at least $500,000 where the investment is being made in a 
"targeted employment area," which is an area that has experienced
 unemployment of at least 150 per cent of the national average rate
 or a rural area; and

    3. Whose engagement in a new commercial enterprise will benefit the 
United States economy and:
        •    create full-time employment for not fewer than 10 qualified individuals;
        •    maintain the number of existing employees at no less than the 
pre-investment level for a period of at least two years, where  the capital investment is being made in a "troubled business,"
 which is a business that has been in existence for at least two  years and that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the 
past 12 to 24 months.
 
The individual’s investment must meet all requirements, such as:
        •    establishing a new commercial enterprise;
        •    investing the requisite capital amount;
        •    proving the investment comes from a lawful source of funds;
        •    creating the requisite number of jobs;
        •    demonstrating that the investor is actively participating in the 
 business; and, where applicable;
        •    creating employment within a targeted employment area.

To Become a Permanent Resident Based on Investment After Two Years:
To become a lawful permanent resident, eligible investors must file a Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions. Form I-829 must be filed within 90 days before the second anniversary of an Alien Investor’s admission to the United States as a conditional resident.