Questions and Answers > EB-5 Investments

Can my wife and I used combined funds for the EB-5 Visa Program?

Would there be any problem if I have $200,000 in my account and my wife has $300,000 in her account and we get the total amount required for the EB-5 visa from our combined accounts? We have documents proving where we obtained our funds from.

Answers

• Jennifer Parser

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 7, 2013

  The funds must be from one person, one account so you should move all funds to appear in either your or your wife''s account. The spouse is always included for the EB-5 green card.

• Julia Roussinova

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 7, 2013

  One of you must be a principal investor and a spouse will be able to immigrate with the principal investor to the United States as a dependent. Funds must be transferred from the principal investor''s personal account or a joint account with a spouse to an entity in which you invest (for example, a project within an approved regional center). Your spouse may gift or loan funds to you based on the laws of your country and transaction should be properly documented based on the laws of your country. It appears that you have documentation evidencing the lawful source of funds. The principal investor will also need to qualify as an accredited investor. USCIS does not require that you be an accredited investor to qualify for an EB-5 visa. This is rather the US securities law requirement. Under the current US securities laws, a company that offers or sells its securities must register the securities with the US Securities and Exchange Commission or find an exemption from the registration requirements. Under the current US securities laws, companies are given a number of exemptions from the registration requirements. To that end, any approved regional center or other securities issuer, such as a lawful business entity offering a business interest for sale, may use an exemption to offer you, as an investor, an equity interest. One of the common exemptions from the registration requirement in the EB-5 regional center context is offering an equity interest for sale (generally, a limited partnership interest or unit) to an EB-5 investor who qualifies as an accredited investor under Securities Regulation D. In this context, to be an accredited investor, you must meet either one of the following requirements: (1) have an individual net worth, or joint net worth with your spouse, of more than $1million at the time you purchase an interest less the value of your primary residence (i.e. your main home), or (2) have an annual individual income of more than $200,000 or annual joint income with your spouse of more than $300,000 in each of the preceding 2 years and a reasonable expectation of the same level of individual or joint income in the current year (i.e. 2009, 2010, and 2011). Values are in US dollars.

• Igor Serbinin

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 7, 2013

  Yes, you can.

• Laura Danielson

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 4, 2013

  One of you should become the principal investor. The other can "gift" the funds to the principal investor with a deed of gift. The source of funds for the person who gives the gift will be evaluated as well.

• Mona Shah

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 4, 2013

  Yes, combining the funds this way would be fine, although only one person will be the principal investor and the other the dependent.

• Michael G Homeier

  Securities Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Yes, however keep in mind that only one of the two spouses is the formal ‘investor.’ The investor’s investment qualifies individual visas (‘green cards’) for him- or herself, the spouse, and the minor children (under age 21). Also keep in mind that there might be US securities law ramifications, if the Regulation D securities exemption is being claimed - the investors need to be accredited, defined under ‘Reg D’ as having a net worth (exclusive of primary residence) of US$1 Million or net income of US$200K for the past two years (US$300K including spousal income) plus the reasonable expectation of that continuing. Hence, if the spouses’ funds are separate property, one may need to ‘gift’ sufficient funds to the other so that particular individual satisfies one or the other of the Reg D tests. That would mean if the wife is to be the investor, you will need to transfer your $200K to her; if you are, she’ll need to transfer her $300K to you. Such gifts are legal, however they do need to be reported for tax purposes.

• Bita Hamidi

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Yes, as long as the source of funds are well-documented you may do this.

• Jinhee Wilde

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  You and your spouse is viewed as one unit by the USCIS. Thus, your accounts could be combined to make the investment. Please note, however, that you must show that you qualify to make that $500,000 investment by showing that you either have earned income of $200,000 or more for the last 3 years or have the assets of $1 million. This is the eligibility requirement for being an EB-5 investor.

• Daniel A Zeft

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  One person is the principal EB-5 investor. The spouse could transfer or gift funds to the principal EB-5 investor and these funds can be used for the EB-5 investment. The transfer or gift must be done in accordance with the law of the foreign country.

• Angeline Chen

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Only one person should invest. So your wife can gift you the $300,000 or vice Versa and invest $500,000 in total. The spouse gets a green card as a dependent. The $500,000 investment is from one person and that person can include the spouse and children under 21 as dependents. Hope that helps.

• Taher Kameli

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Yes, you can use combined funds for the program.

• Charles H Kuck

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  One of you will have to ''gift'' the money to the other and then both of you will get the EB-5 green card.

• Randall Sidlosca

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  The capital required must come from one person. Your wife can transfer the funds to you and you can make the investment. She obtains the immigrant visa as your spouse anyway.

• Clem Turner

  Securities Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  I understand from the immigration attorneys that it is possible for your wife to loan you her funds or for you to loan her your funds, thus one of you can have $500,000 in properly documented assets to invest in the EB5 Program. From a corporate perspective, making a loan of the funds from one of you to the other (as apposed to having you both invest in 1 interest) is preferable. The EB5 Interests you buy from a Regional Center are typically not fungible - so co-owning an interest might be problematic. Another factor you need to be aware of are the requirements for you to be an accredited investor. Most Regional Centers rely on Regulation D (and Regulation S) to provide an exemption from the Securities Law requirement that they register their securities with the SEC. Under Regulation D, all investors in the offering must be accredited. To be accredited, generally speaking, you must have either (1) individual net worth, or joint net worth with your spouse, that exceeds $1 million at the time of the purchase, excluding the value of your primary residence OR (2) annual income exceeding $200,000 in each of the two most recent years or joint income with a spouse exceeding $300,000 for those years and a reasonable expectation of the same income level in the current year. If you do not meet this asset or income test, a Regional Center could violate Regulation D by allowing you to invest in their project. Hopefully this is not an issue for you.

• Alice H Sun

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  We can help you use a combined fund for your investment if you both can prove the lawful sources.

• Andrea Szew

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Thank you for your question. You really should combine your investment to hit the required threshold. Once you transfer it to either of you then you that person would become the investor applicant. Also, keep records of the transfer between spouses for records for tracing.

• Ira Kurzban

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  No problem.

• Karen Weinstock

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Well, you would have to use only one of you as the primary investor and prove the funds belong to one or the other. You may be able to draft a loan agreement or you may be able to gift each other the amount but there has to be one primary investor.

• Marisa Casablanca

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  There are several ways to combine the income of spouses to make the $500 investment. One way is to gift the funds from one spouse to another. This is done on a case by case basis. It is important that your attorney be familiar with the funds portfolio of the family members to determine the best way to show source of funds and how the moneys must be invested.

• Anthony Ravani

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  There should be no problem.

• Lynne Feldman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  That should be fine provided you are investing in a Targeted Employment Area - one of you will have to be the primary EB-5 investor and the other the EB-5 derivative.

• Stephen Berman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  There needs to be one lead applicant, not multiple applicants. So it is a problem to have two people invest and the total add up to 500,000.

• Neville M Leslie

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  No problem if you have the requisite net worth between you.

• Farah Abbas

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Yes, you and your wife can combine your funds to accumulate the $500,000 needed for the EB-5 investment. You just need to prove that you are legally married. USCIS views assets of a husband and wife as joint assets.

• Kamana Mathur

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 3, 2013

  Yes, you and your spouse can use combined funds.

• Reza Rahbaran

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 2, 2013

  Spouses may combine their assets for an EB-5 visa petition, however there may be only one investor petitioner in the I-526.