EB5 Pros and Cons

The EB-5 Program gives foreign investors and their immediate family members green cards in exchange for making a $500,000 (or $1 million in a non- targeted employment area project) capital investment into a U.S. job-creating commercial enterprise. Sound like a good deal to you?

Changes to the EB-5 Program are imminent, so figuring out if its the right visa pathway for you is a time sensitive matter.

The changes on the horizon, although not set in stone, are associated with the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization regulation. This regulation is in its final stages, once it’s published in the Federal Register, it could come into effect in as little as 30 days.

What’s in this new regulation? While it’s difficult to know for certain as it could have gone through numerous changes since it was first made public years ago, a few things are suspected to happen, including:

• Increases to the minimum investment amount (Increases from $500,000 to $1.35 million for targeted employment area projects and $1 million to $1.8 million for non targeted employment area projects)
• Increased oversight to the Regional Center Program
• Transfer of authority over targeted employment area designations from the states to the federal government.
• Changes to interview and visa processing

These potential changes to the program are the reasons why applying now and being grandfathered in under the current EB-5 visa rules (and lower investment amounts!) are time sensitive. Now you know why to apply early, let’s look at whether it’s in your best interest to apply for EB-5 in particular.

EB5 Pros

• There are no language, skills, education, employment, health, or age requirements to apply
• It provides a pathway to U.S. citizenship for you, your spouse and your unmarried children under the age of 21 years
• It allows you and your family to live, work, go to school, and travel anywhere in the country, regardless of where your EB5 investment is located
• Investing the an EB-5 project does not require an investor to actively manage the investment, but can if they so desire. Instead, EB5 investors can be policy makers (essentially, passive investors)
• Investors may qualify for in-state tuition for top universities across the country
• Investors can take advantage of the fact that the U.S. doesn’t require a visa to be able to travel to many countries
• U.S. is an economic powerhouse
• Has a stable government
• Has world-class universities

EB5 Cons

• The program has not kept up with its popularity and three countries are currently suffering a visa backlog (Mainland China, Vietnam, and India). The EB5 industry is working hard to get Congress to fix the visa cap. Additionally, if you’re from a country currently in retrogression and your spouse is from a different country, apply under their country to avoid the visa backlog
• It requires a $500,000 investment, BUT investor programs from other countries require much higher amounts
• Your investment must remain at risk in order to qualify for an EB-5 visa. Conducting thorough due diligence, however, can minimize the risk
• The EB-5 Regional Center Program is not a permanent program and must be reauthorized every few months. In nearly three decades of its existence, the EB-5 Regional Center Program has always been reauthorized by Congress
• The EB-5 Program visa wait times can stretch on for years, but so do many other visa categories

For more information about the EB-5 Program, send us a message or fill out an evaluation form below.