How can I guarantee a green card for my EB-5 investor?

You cannot guarantee your investor a green card. As per EB-5 regulations, the investment must be "at risk," meaning you cannot guarantee a return on investment. Based on your comments, it does not seem like you can meet the job requirement for a direct investor. Your best option may be to team up with an established regional center, which will allow indirect and induced jobs to be counted towards the 10 job requirement set by EB-5 regulations.

The full amount of the investment must be put into the commercial enterprise within 2 years. To analyze the indirect job usage you will need an economist.

There is never any guarantee regarding EB-5, just as there are no guarantees in business. The investment is an at-risk commitment of capital, so there is both financial risk and immigration risk involved and that must be weighed and minimized as much as possible, but it can never be eliminated. Freelancers or independent contractors do not count as direct jobs; if you wanted to count these jobs, then you need to be in and under a USCIS-designated regional center. Only direct jobs (full-time employees) count for a basic EB-5 investment. There is no requirement that you spend the $500K or be profitable within two years, but your business plan must be feasible and credible and show how the money will be spent and when the jobs will be created. You must create the full-time jobs within two years or within a reasonable time thereafter (you would need to have a good reason why the jobs weren''t created in two years and a timeline showing when they will be created). The company must still be in business, i.e., the investor must show that he has sustained the investment for the two-year period.

It is not possible to "guarantee" a green card, since the USCIS has the full discretion (within the guidelines of the law) to approve or deny a green card application. You also can not "guarantee" that the invested funds will be returned or protected, since one of the requirements for EB-5 Immigrant Investor processing is "funds at risk." Best way to attract EB-5 investors is to have sound business structure and plan and legal professionals assisting in the immigration process.

Unfortunately you cannot make a financial guarantee as the investor''s funds must be at risk. Some Regional Centers use an Escrow account that provides that the funds will only be invested upon the granting of the I-526. Other Regional Centers do give the investors a personal guarantee for the investment but only on the financial side. Guaranteeing what USCIS is not possible.

You can''t guarantee an investor will receive his or her green card, but you can retain qualified EB-5 counsel, like the attorneys at our law firm, to address EB-5 compliance. That is, we would review the project and establish the legal and financial infrastructure, we would coordinate with an established EB-5 economist to determine the job creation, and we would review your business plan for compliance with the USCIS rules and regulations.