Can an EB-5 green card be granted to the partners managing a company?
We have a company in Brazil that consists of three members. If we want to open a company in the United States with an investment of $500 million dollars, can the provisional EB-5 green card be given to the three partners of the company that together handle the investment of the $500 million? Or will the green card only be granted to the investor?
The $500 million dollars of investment must be the property of the partners. If the funds belong to the investors then they are not eligible for an EB-5 visa. For further information please contact Rahbaran & Associates.
An EB-5 Green Card can only be given to an individual (and their spouse and minor children) who *invests *$1,000,000 (or $500,000 if the project is in a TEA) in a US enterprise with the expectation that 10 jobs will be created.
If you choose an EB-5 visa route, you can pool the investment funds to obtain conditional green cards. If each of the three of you wishes to qualify for EB-5 program and receive a conditional green card and then a permanent green card, each of you must make a requisite minimum investment of $1 million (or $500,000 if the new commercial enterprise is in a targeted employment area (rural area or high unemployment area)). Each investor is also required to prove legal source of funds and create at least 10 full-time jobs per investor. There may be other options leading to permanent residence in the US, such as an L-1A visa. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need further assistance.
It depends on how you would structure this transaction. If it is the company that is investing the capital, than technically your three partners are not investors. It has to be their personal funds that they are investing.
It is possible for multiple investors to pool funds in a US business and all obtain conditional residency. However, each investor must make at least a $1 million investment of their own funds (unless investing in a TEA, in which case the investment amount would be reduced to $500K), each investor''s investment must create 10 US jobs, each investor must demonstrate the lawful source of their funds, and each investment must be involved in the management of the business, among meeting all other requirements of the program. So, if all three of you invest your own funds and the company creates at least 30 full-time jobs within the required period, it may be possible for you all to obtain residency, again assuming all other conditions of the program are met.
Only an investor who invests the required amount of lawfully obtained capital (in his or her own name) can be approved for EB-5. Partners managing the investment(s) of others do not qualify.
There are a couple of different ways to do what you contemplate below. If you choose to go through EB5, each investor will need to individually invest the minimum million dollar investment in the new US company. Those funds may come from the company if it is structured correctly. Each investor would have to apply for their own EB5 visa individually. You could also form a US subsidiary from the Brazilian company and the three members can come to the US in a management capacity to establish and run the company through an L-1 visa. Once you are here, you can apply for a permanent visa should you choose to stay. Please let me know if I may be of further assistance to you in this process.
The application needs to come from the person who invested the $1million. If they invest along with you they can apply for themselves so long as there invest creates 10 direct jobs at the business that was invested in.
The EB-5 greencard would be tied to the investor and require a showing of the source of funds put at risk. However, if you have a company in Brazil and intend to maintain that company while forming a new company in the US, there is likely another visa/greencard option for the three partners.
Sufen Hilf
Immigration Attorney
Answered on
The funds should come from personal income sources and then the investors can apply for EB-05.
The investor will be the EB 5 applicant. As such, part of the amount invested as well as the jobs being created will need to be integrated in the applications. If the other two partners did not participate, then you may want to look at another immigration model than EB 5.
Yes, each investor would need to invest $1,000,000 AND hire 10 new employees. The fine of you would need to invest $5,000,000 and would need to hire 50 new people.
Dale Schwartz
Immigration Attorney
Answered on
The EB-5 benefits are only for the investors not employees who are not investors. But, once the company is established in the USA, the managers might qualify for L-1A visas (which could turn into green cards later). Contact me for more information.
Each investor by investing 1 million attributable to that investor qualifies for a green card. Thus if the investment can be separated in Brazil and 1 million be shown to be owned by and under the control of a single investor, and can be traced as to its legal source, each investor should qualify.
Each partner would need to infuse $500,000. If only $500,000 is invested, only one partner can apply.
Jinhee Wilde
Immigration Attorney
Answered on
Immigration benefit is granted for one person and his/her immediate family, such as a spouse and children under 21 years of age. There is no immigrant visa (green card) issued to a group of business partners. If you are indeed investing $500 million, each of you could invest separately and then apply for EB-5 individually for himself and his family.
For $500,000 only one investor could apply, for over $1.5 or $3 million all 3 as long as you have the jobs times the number of investors (for example 3 investors 30 jobs). There may be other options for you and your partners other than EB-5 ? you should contact a good attorney to discuss them before making any investments.
Each member has to be an ''investor'' and the applications are handled separately for each one. If only one of you has the capital and the other two only the know-how, unfortunately, the two will not qualify. Each partner has to qualify as an ''investor'' under this program.
Technically only an actual investor (and his/her immediate family) may qualify for a green card under the EB-5 program. However, an individual may gift another individual the necessary funds to allow that second individual to invest in a business and also qualify for a green card.
Any individual who invests personal funds in a U.S. business that creates the required jobs may qualify for the EB-5 visa. It is important to remember that the investment cannot be made by a company to qualify. There are also other visa categories you may want to consider like the EB-1-3 that is available to multinational managers and executives which does not require the investment of personal funds.
Each investor desiring to obtain lawful permanent resident status must independently qualify for Eb-5 classification, which includes making the minimum investment.
Depending on how the investment is structured we can certainly obtain the greencards for the partners. However, there may be quicker and more efficient ways to obtain the greencard for the partners. However, we would have to do an indepth analysis on the issues to make any further recommendations. I am happy to discuss this with you over the phone.
The EB-5 is applied by each individual investor and each individual investor has to demonstrate that he or she is investing $500,000.00 if the new commercial enterprise is in a targeted employment area or $1 million if it is not. Also, each investor has to demonstrate in two years that the money that he or she invested created 10 full time jobs. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Your better structure may be an L-1A visa and then residency. It does not require the level of investment, you can manage your own business, and each can obtain the visa.
Steven Anapoell
Securities Attorney
Answered on
Only individuals can invest. Hence, the three individuals must invest in the new company. I am available to discuss further if you prefer.