What happens to the conditional green card after EB-5 project failure?

If the project fails, you cannot successfully remove the conditions on your status. You may have a claim for a law suit against the regional center - but this is outside the scope of immigration law.

The terms and conditions of your investment in the regional center project are determined by the legal agreements you signed with the regional center. If the project fails and you are either not able to sustain your investment in the entity or the entity fails to meet the job creation requirements, then your condition will not be removed and you will not receive a permanent green card in the project. You may have legal recourse or other actions you can take at that point, but you should consult with an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney now if you feel that the project is in trouble.

Once you have obtained your conditional permanent residency your investment had to be 100% at risk. Therefore, if the business completely fails, then the offering documents may state the process by which funds may be returned to you. Alternatively, if the business is financially in trouble but continues to exist and employs most of the required employees, then based upon the EB-5 policy of substantial compliance, you may apply for and obtain unconditional permanent residency.

In case of a regional center failure, as a shareholder, you will take your place with a long line of creditors/lien holders on the remaining company assets. If the majority ownership is sold to another party and if your shares remain the same, you may still gain the I-829 approval, provided the job creation has been completed. If the company goes into bankruptcy, it is possible that your shares become worthless, then as an investor, you could lose both the money and the permanent green card. USCIS says under the circumstance, you can start all over again by investing in another business, but the question is - will you? So it is very important to imagine the worst case scenario at the beginning and ask questions before you invest, not reversely.

If an EB-5 project fails before the 10 jobs are created, the conditions would not be removed on your green card. To find out how you can get your money back, you would have to consult the project documents.

If the venture fails before the conditions are removed, then your application fails also. The return of your money will depend on what your agreements were with the project. You can only remove the conditions for the project you invested in.

Unfortunately, this scenario is too common with so many regional centers that may not know how to do the EB-5 project. Whether you could get your money back if the removal of conditions is not approved depends on what your limited partnership agreement and subscription agreement state. If the project is a failure or the regional center itself goes out of business, then it is likely that all the investment amount is gone as well. If the removal of conditions is not approved due to the job creation requirement not being met, but the business itself is still viable, then you may be able to negotiate for a refund of your investment so that you could reinvest in another more successful regional center project and refile the I-526 to get another 2 year conditional residency and then file for removal of conditions through that new project. There is no other route to removing the conditions. Your lawyer who has helped you to get your conditional residency is your advocate and he or she should help you through this.

Unfortunately you would need to start over as far as the green card goes, which is why it is so important to pick a stable reputable project. In terms of what money, if any, you get back from the project, you need to review the documents you signed with the project carefully.

Repayment of funds depends on the offering documents you signed with the project. Many provide for some sort of repayment if the project fails. You will not be able to remove your conditions to the green card if the project fails before you file the I-829, which means you would probably have to start over with a new I-526 and a new project.