EB-5 Investment
The EB-5 visa investment can be in the form of cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, cash equivalents and indebtedness secured by assets owned by the alien provided that he or she is personally and primarily liable and the assets of the new commercial enterprise are not used to secure any of the indebtedness. The definition specifically excludes capital acquired by unlawful means. The basic EB5 Visa investment unit amount is $1 million. This may be reduced to $500,000 if the business is established in a Targeted Employment Area ("TEA").
A TEA is either a rural area (any area that is both outside of a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) and outside of a city or town having a population of 20,000 or more based on the most recent decennial census of the United States) or an area experiencing a high unemployment rate (of at least 150% of the national unemployment rate within the MSA or other non-rural area in which the commercial enterprise that will create or preserve jobs is located) at the time of the capital investment or the time of filing of the Form I-526 petition, whichever occurs first. If the petitioner shows that the area where he or she is investing is a rural area, the petitioner need not also establish that the area has high employment. Conversely, if the area is a high unemployment area, the petitioner need not also show that it is a rural area.
Aliens can invest the required amount alone, create the qualifying business with another immigrant investor, or even create the business with US citizens or other people not seeking classification as an immigrant investor. In such cases, each person seeking classification as an immigrant investor must have invested the required amount, but each person can use the same employees to reach the required 10 new positions per each EB-5 invetsment unit.
