What if the EB-5 project is done before I file an I-829?

You have to show 10 jobs were created during the 2 year period of permanent residency. Your project and immigration attorney will be able to calculate the timeline for the jobs allocated to your investment, even if it takes several years before filing the I-829.

This will depend on the job creation methodology but, generally, that should be helpful for your I-829 petition. For example, if your job creation count is based on construction expenditures, you should be good to go. If it is based on tenant jobs, then leasing can commence. Either way, you will be well on track to have the jobs created within a reasonable period of time, typically 2.5 years after you receive Conditional Permanent Residence.

Your question presents a problem, particularly with growing backlogs for Chinese nationals under the visa quota. If the project is actually finished before you are eligible to file your petition to remove conditions on Form I-829, you would focus on demonstrating that 10 new jobs were created within 2.5 years after the approval of your I-526 petition in order to meet the requirements of removing conditions from your green card.

The jobs have to be created by the time the I-829 is submitted. If the jobs are created before you file the I-829, that is good. The jobs do not have to continue to exist at the time the I-829 is due.

We only have interim guidance - the conservative view is the jobs need to be sustained until the I-829 is approved, but it also depends on how the jobs are calculated - are the jobs exclusively based on expenditure models, in which case the main issue is whether the money was spent - if operational jobs, then you need to often show actual direct jobs were created, as detailed in the business plan and economic report.

It would depend on what the jobs report says. If the EB-5 project was done through the regional center and the indirect jobs count was based on the construction jobs of two years, then the completion of that construction would be the proof that the jobs were created. You and the regional center will need to work together to show that whatever you promised on the I-526 petition was fulfilled without any material change.

In order for your EB-5 capital contribution to be linked to job creation, you need to make sure your EB-5 capital is "at risk." Whether it is at risk is not determined by the timing or manner of the EB-5 capital''s use, which are required elements for eligible job creation. The test for whether EB-5 capital may be credited with earlier occurring job creation is whether your EB-5 capital was at risk while job creation occurred. If the EB-5 capital when it later, to take out bridge financing, then the financing to be replaced should have been contemplated as short-term temporary financing, which would be subsequently replaced. If so, the infusion of EB-5 financing could still result in the creation of, and credit for, new jobs according to the USCIS May 30, 2013 policy memo.

By the end you will have had to have created 10 jobs. If the jobs are gone before the end, it is likely to be a problem.

I think you may be confusing project completion with job creation. As long as the requisite >10 full time jobs are created by the EB-5 investor, when the project is completed is irrelevant; in some cases, it may even improve your chances of getting the I-829 approved since it shows that the business plan proceeded as planned and that the jobs were created. At the time of the I-829 filing you need to show that the jobs were created and sustained.