What happens to invested funds during the EB-5 backlog delay?

In both cases while you are waiting to acquire your immigrant visa, given not only the lengthy adjudication time to approve the I-526 petition, but in the case of Chinese-born petitioners, a growing backlog under the quota of more than two years, the $500,000 must be invested and remain invested during the entire period of time, including up until your I-829 petition to remove conditions has been approved. As always, you should consult experienced immigration counsel.

Generally, when the EB-5 investment is organized through a regional center, most of the funds are placed in escrow while you wait for approval of your I-526 petition. If it is a direct investment it is advisable to keep it in a bank account (preferably a separate account from your common fund) for eventual demonstration that you have the required fund ready for investment upon approval of your petition. For good planning, seek the counsel of an attorney.

You will need to carefully review the regional center project offering documentation to find out how the funds will be handled once the EB-5 investment is made. Many reputable projects these days transfer funds into a project because business projects cannot wait during prolonged government processing delays and must be developed to stay successful. Some projects hold funds in escrow until the I-526 is approved. You may also enter in an escrow agreement to hold funds until the I-526 is approved in a direct EB-5 case.

This question should be addressed by the initial documentation presented by the regional center or direct investment project. One possible scenario is to hold your funds in an escrow account until a time agreed upon for release. It really depends on each project as to when the money is needed, etc.

It depends on the project, but generally there are two options. Hold it in escrow or deploy it. The government likes to see it deployed.

Depending on the project, your investment may be used for business/job-creating activities well before you get your conditional permanent residency. Your investment must also be sustained until you obtain full lawful permanent residency. New Commercial Enterprises can theoretically redeploy funds during this period, but USCIS has not clarified how this will work in practice.

The money is either held in escrow (if filed through a regional center, and depending on the agreement between investor and regional center as to when the invested funds will be released to the center) or if in the case of direct investments, the money should have already been invested.