What kind of restrictions are there on repatriating EB5 funds?

There are no regulations restricting repatriation.

There are no immigration laws or regulations restricting repatriation of funds.

There are no U.S. government regulations restricting you on repatriation. You will have to abide by the partnership requirements as provided in the private placement offering. If you have fears during your term of investment that the project is going to fail and you have not removed the conditions on your permanent residence then you may need to be wary of various immigration risks. Hence, there is the immigration risk that if you withdraw too early you may not have properly maintained your investment in the EB-5 new commercial enterprise. This might result in you having to re-invest in a new project and being subject to a new two-year period of conditional residency. I highly recommend that you speak with a qualified and independent EB-5 counsel (apart from your regional center counsel) prior to taking any action.

There are immigration restrictions. But, if there are immigration benefits to be had, it becomes an issue of contract between investor and NCE.

The security offering documents, business plan, economist report may refer to the exit strategies for the foreign national investor from the EB-5 project. There is a EB-5 rule and reference in the most recent USCIS policy memorandum that states that there cannot be any guarantees of the return of the principal of the investment capital or any redemption agreements in the body of the security offering documents to show that there is a guaranteed return of investment capital. Once there is an exit, and in a situation where the investor sell his/her interest in the limited partnership, or LLC, at fair market value and receive proceeds from the sale of its interest, then is no restriction to transfer the amount of returned value to a bank account bank account in another country.

The fund has to be in a regional center for two years, but most EB-5 Regional Centers require at least five years of investment period.

No. Other than contractual obligations with the regional center or investment, the investor is always able to take their money out. However, they will not receive the benefit of EB-5 program if this is done prior to receiving approval of the I-829. Please feel free to contact me directly with any other questions.

There may be no guarantee of a refund if the I-829 is denied. Such a guarantee would be regarded by USCIS as defeating the ''at risk'' provision. However, if funds are available to repay the capital investment, there is no restriction on repatriating the funds abroad.

Many EB-5 projects have strategies in place if there is a denial of one of the investor''s petitions or applications. If I understand your question correctly, after the exit strategy has been completed and the investor receives whatever amount he or she gets from that exit, the investor is free to do whatever he or she likes with that money. Please note, however, that maintaining permanent residency requires the payment of taxes in the United States and other actions, and similarly so for naturalization. We definitely recommend retaining qualified U.S. Immigration and EB-5 counsel, like our law firm, to assist you with your plans.