I’m on H1B with a stable job and company in Seattle, WA. I have a priority date of Oct 2018 with the company. Considering the delays for Indians, I wanted to apply for a green card via EB-5 in parallel. The plan is to direct invest in a restaurant/bar or some other business to employ 10 people (including a manager to help run the day to day operations). I don’t want to go through a regional center due to high admin cost and low return. Wanted to understand the feasibility and risks.
You should do significant due diligence (financial and immigration) on any EB-5 project investment you might wish to consider. You likely will need to hire a manager as you are not authorized to work for the new commercial enterprise under your existing H-1B. A restaurant/bar investment is extremely risky, so you should consider a franchise EB-5 investment, which could provide more stability and a proven track record of success.
The feasibility of the project will depend on the project you invest in, but you are advised to carefully review the project you invest in and also calculate the cost of ten full-time jobs over 6-7 years. Make sure that you are able to make the commitment to keep paying wages even if the business loses money.
You can invest directly right now in a business. You will need to create 10 full-time jobs. As long as your H1-B can be extended (it appears you have an approved I-140) you can stay here in H1B status while you wait for the green card. USCIS is very backlogged so it will take at least 3 years for the first phase I-526 to be approved.
You can certainly apply with a direct EB-5 project. You can (and should) keep your H1B status while your I-526 is being adjudicated. There are many intricacies involved when doing a direct EB-5 project (including the fact that you can’t work for your business if you are on H1B with another employer) so you should speak with an experienced attorney.
