How can some existing jobs be counted for an EB-5 direct business?

If your business was established while you are in the United States on a valid work visa, and your business already hired four full time qualified employees, you can use said business as a new commercial enterprise for the purpose of EB-5 as long as your initial source of funds for the business was legally obtained. The business has to employ 10 full time qualified jobs within 30 months of I-526 submission. However, I would suggest for you to consult with an experienced EB-5 attorney to determine whether the initial business set-up was made appropriate for an EB-5 project.

Based only on your question and USCIS policy and regulation, you need to increase the net worth or number of employees by 40 percent of the pre-investment amount, in addition to meeting the standard 10 jobs requirement. An immigration attorney would work closely with you to review your current business and immigration status, your goals, and approvable solutions.

Jobs in existence prior to your capital investment into the NCE cannot be counted. Jobs your NCE created prior to your FILING and I-526 petition may be counted, assuming all other requirements are met. In order to qualify to have your condition removed, you must sustain your investment for the entire conditional period and you must have created the required number of jobs within that period. There is no requirement about how long the jobs must be maintained, but practically speaking, they should be in place and maintained throughout the conditional period as well and until your I-829 is approved.

If you can demonstrate that your investment created the permanent jobs, then you likely qualify. It is necessary to know more facts. You should consult an EB-5 immigration attorney.

As long as you can show they were hired after your infusion of capital into the enterprise, they will count.

You have to show your investment created the jobs. There may be a viable case. The jobs have to be sustained all the way through to the I-829 stage. If you do not have 10 at the time you file the I-829, your case will likely be denied.

The statute requires you to employ 10 new permanent people. You have the period from your initial approval of the conditional permanent residency until the removal of your conditional status to effect this. The four people already hired would probably not count unless you were filing under what is known as a "troubled business".