How should I go forward with my EB-5 project?

Your first step is to retain an immigration attorney with experience in the EB-5 program. Next, your father should gift the funds to you. Then, the source of funds must be satisfactorily documented. Once that requirement is satisfied, the investor will choose a regional center that he/she will invest in. For the last part of your question, you have to meet the $500,000 or $1 million dollar investment individually, and not through pooling with a partner. USCIS regulations require that each individual satisfy all of the EB-5 requirements.

You have asked questions regarding several issues, I will try to address each of them. I am not quite clear as to what you mean by procedure, what you need to identify is a project or business that you want to invest in, once you have taken that step, you should have your father gift you the funds. Transfer restrictions are going to be based on your country of origin and/or the country the money is coming from, there is no restriction on US banks as to how much they can receive in their accounts. The source of money is crucial as we have to paper the source, meaning show the USCIS where the money is coming from , so the source is a significant factor. If you are unable to verify the source you may in fact be denied your green card. You can certainly invest in a pre-existing business, you just need to ensure that it creates the requisite number of jobs.

Your father can gift you the investment funds and on this basis you can become an EB-5 investor and obtain the U.S. permanent residency. Even if the investment funds are gifted to you, the accredited investor requirements have to still apply to you. You also have to prove the authenticity the legal source of the investments funds. You will have to invest your personal funds and cannot invest those investment funds with a foreign national who already has a green card in order for you to obtain the U.S. permanent residency.

The investment amount depends on the area where your project is physically located. If it is in a rural area or high unemployment (150% of the national unemployment rate), you only need to invest $500,000 to satisfy the EB-5 requirement. If your project is located in a metropolitan area, you will need to invest $1,000,000 to satisfy the EB-5 requirement. Some foreign countries restrict their citizens from transferring their money out of the country. For example, China only allows its citizen to transfer $50,000USD out of China in one year. Therefore, if you are a citizen of China, you cannot wire $500,000 or $1,000,000 out of China in one year unless there are other legal avenues to do so. Accordingly, you need to check the currency laws in your country to determine whether you can wire the $500,000 or $1,000,000 (can be in separate transfers) from your personal account to the account of the U.S. project before you file the I-526 Petition. Yes, source of money matters; if your father gifts this money to you, he has to provide the legal source of such funds and the path of funds from how he acquired the money in the first place and through any change of forms (say from wages to savings, then to real estate and then to sale proceeds, then to your personal account, and then to the U.S. project account). The transfer of money is easy to manage. But you have to first consult with an EB-5 immigration attorney to decide what type of investment project you have in mind. Are you going to establish a new business by yourself or with another partner or with several partners? It all depends on the type and nature and size of this business project you have in mind. If you do not have anything in mind and you do not plan to manage the business yourself, you should consider investing in an USCIS approved regional center. A majority of the regional centers only require $500,000 USD investment capital plus some administrative fees (somewhere about $45,000) for you to apply for EB-5 immigration benefits. Yes, you have to meet the $500,000 or $1,000,000USD alone and not pooled with another partner.

It appears that you need to learn about what is EB-5 investments and how you obtain an immigration benefit fundamentally. Because EB-5 immigration is more complicated than other immigration work, I think it would be best if you do a personal consultation with an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney. A simple, basic requirement of EB-5 in your case as you will be receiving your funds from your father is to show that your father has earned over $200,000 in income for the past 3 years or has a net asset over $1 million from which he could make a $500,000 or $1 million of gift to you to make the EB-5 investment - $500,000 if the EB-5 business is located in Targeted Employment Area (TEA) showing 150% higher unemployment than the national average. The source of funds of EB-5 investment must be from legitimate sources and not from illegal activities or gambling. Every dollar transfer/transaction from your father''s accounts to yours and then ultimately to the EB-5 investment must be tracked dollar for dollar. When you have the funds to invest ready, you need to choose the investment vehicle wisely, whether you choose a designated regional center or invest into a private business is up to you to decide. However, consult with your father and your financial adviser to go over pros and cons of both ways and do your due diligence in choosing your investment, knowing that you are putting your investment at risk, which means there is a chance that your principal investment fund could be lost at worst case.

You pose a number of questions that would best be answered through a phone consultation with someone like me, an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney. In short, the source of the money is vitally important to any EB-5 case. Your father certainly can legally give you the funds, but then the USCIS will want to know exactly how your father lawfully obtained the capital he gave to you for investment. Also, while the law allows for being in the process of investing, the reality is that you should invest the full amount upfront, either in the project directly or into an escrow account that provides for the automatic release of the funds upon approval of the I-526 petition. The amount of investment is $1 million or $500,000 if the area where the new commercial enterprise primarily will be doing business is in a targeted employment area (high unemployment or rural area). The investment requirement is that you invest in a new commercial enterprise (formed after 11/29/1990) that will create fulltime jobs for at least 10 U.S. workers. It does not matter if you partner with another person who is a green card holder.

You ask many good questions that are best answered by a qualified EB-5 attorney, like those at our law firm. Retaining a qualified EB-5 attorney allows you to develop a strategy to reach your U.S. Immigration Goals. Deciding on a business in which to invest in is mostly a business decision, considering a direct or regional-center-based EB-5 investment, rates of return, etc. The source and transfer of personal investment funds is also best prepared and/or reviewed by a U.S. EB-5 attorney.

Wiring the money is fine. You do need to show the source of the money. You should research the different investment options. The investments are in businesses, so you will not be investing with any foreign national.