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Immigration
Through Investment
Overview
Under
section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA),
8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), 10,000 immigrant visas per year are
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 an
INS-designated “Regional Center.”
A "Regional
Center:"
- Is an entity,
organization or agency that has been approved as such by the Service;
- Focuses
on a specific geographic area within the United States; and ,
- Seeks to
promote economic growth through increased export sales, improved
regional productivity, creation of new jobs, and increased domestic
capital investment.
"Alien investors" must:
- Demonstrate
that a "qualified investment" is being made in a new
commercial enterprise located within an approved Regional Center;
and,
- Show, using
reasonable methodologies, that 10 or more jobs are actually created
either directly or indirectly by the new commercial enterprise
through revenues generated from increased exports, improved regional
productivity, job creation, or increased domestic capital investment
resulting from the pilot program.
Eligibility
Permanent
resident status based on EB-5 eligibility is available to investors,
either alone or coming with their spouse and unmarried children.
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:
Who establish
a new commercial enterprise by:
- creating
an original business;
- purchasing
an existing business and simultaneously or subsequently restructuring
or reorganizing 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 retaining all existing jobs in a troubled
business that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past
12 to 24 months; and
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 as designated by OMB; and
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;
or
- 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
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