How are existing jobs counted if I invest in an existing business established after 1990?

The idea is the new investment will create new jobs. Existing jobs do not count and the option of maintaining the pre-investment number of jobs is available only if the business qualifies as a troubled business. This is a business that has sustained a loss for accounting purposes in the last 12 or 24-month period equal to at least 20 percent of its net worth. The new commercial enterprise must create ten new full-time jobs within two years of the investment to qualify.

If the commercial enterprise was established after 11/29/1990, then it will be considered new. The job creation requirement is separate from the requirement that the commercial enterprise is new. Existing jobs are not counted unless the new commercial enterprise is a troubled business, which has a separate definition under the EB-5 law. If not a troubled business, the petitioner must demonstrate that his or her investment in the NCE will create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers before the end of the conditional residence period (or within a reasonable time thereafter).