Lynne Feldman
Immigration AttorneyYou need an employment lawyer in the state of the project to review your project documents with you to see your options and decide if a lawsuit is reasonable if you cannot settle.
My son in NYC had applied for a green card through an EB-5 investment. His I-526 got rejected due to project related issues. We understand some other investors also got rejected. We need our investment to be refunded, but the project is not responding satisfactorily. In the meanwhile, he has received his green card through EB-2. What should be our next steps? Can we still get our EB-5 money back?
You need an employment lawyer in the state of the project to review your project documents with you to see your options and decide if a lawsuit is reasonable if you cannot settle.
EB-5 is an at-risk investment. Have you read the subscription agreement? Absent fraud, there may not be a right to redemption.
It is possible but doubtful. I would suggest you attempt to get the other investors involved to bring one lawsuit. That will reduce litigation costs. Unfortunately, this story is all too common in the EB-5 world. Some get the money back. I suggest you Google "EB-5 lawsuits" and you will find many cases of this sort.
What do your investment docs say? You need to understand the contracts you signed and understand the financial position of the entity that took your funds in order to determine what courses of action you can pursue.
The various documents that your son signed at the time of investment should contain details about how to exit the investment. For example, the Limited Partnership Agreement often has a clause about the options for exiting the partnership (and receiving the return of the capital contribution) in the event of a Form I-526 denial.
I am sorry to hear Form I-526 was denied due to project failure. The first thing you ought to do is to read the subscription agreement of the project that you or your son signed before filing Form I-526. Usually, the subscription agreement will describe the process for reimbursement of your investment if the project fails. When an entire project fails, usually a class action suit filed by all the project investors is filed and an individual is named as the receiver of all the funds. This receiver will then reimburse each investor. You should consult with an experienced EB-5 attorney to evaluate all your options.
Your offering documents for the deal should have disclosures as to how early withdrawals due to failed petitions are handled. The other issue you may have is whether anyone ever promised the refund you seek outside of your offering documents. You should speak with a securities litigator to review your documents.
Yes, you should ask for the funds back if they have not been lost.