EB-5 Investment Overview

USCIS administers the Immigrant Investor Program, also known as "EB-5," created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors. Under a pilot immigration program first enacted in 1992 and regularly reauthorized since, certain EB-5 visas also are set aside for investors in Regional Centers designated by USCIS based on proposals for promoting economic growth.

Persons wishing to invest in a Regional Center Project will be required to demonstrate that he or she is both a non-U.S. Person and an Accredited Investor. An "Accredited Investor" means any person who meets the following criteria:

• Any natural person whose individual net worth, or joint net worth with that person's spouse, at the time of his or her purchase exceeds $1.0 million, excluding the value of the primary residence of such natural person and excluding the mortgage debt associated with that primary residence, except to the extent that the mortgage debt exceeds the value of the primary residence; or

• Any natural person who had an individual income in excess of $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with that person's spouse in excess of $300,000 in each of those years and has a reasonable expectation of reaching the same income level in the current year.

Capital Investment Requirements

Capital means cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, cash equivalents and indebtedness secured by assets owned by the alien entrepreneur, provided that the alien entrepreneur is personally and primarily liable and that the assets of the new commercial enterprise upon which the petition is based are not used to secure any of the indebtedness. All capital shall be valued at fair-market value in United States dollars. Assets acquired, directly or indirectly, by unlawful means (such as criminal activities) shall not be considered capital for the purposes of section 203(b)(5) of the Act.

Note: Investment capital cannot be borrowed.

Required minimum investments are:

• General. The minimum qualifying investment in the United States is $1 million.

• Targeted Employment Area. The minimum qualifying investment either within a high-unemployment area or rural area in the United States is $500,000.

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