Questions and Answers > EB-5 Investments

What happens if the EB-5 job creating enterprise changes, will it count as a material change?

Our project has already created 90% of total needed jobs, but has not completed construction yet and the developer has run out of money. The regional center found a new developer. There are two possibilities: Possibility A is the JCE’s original owner sell the ownership of JCE to the new developer, but our project’s JCE is still the same company, the only change is the owner of it. Possibility B is the new developer establish a new company and let it be the new JCE, which means our project’s JCE changed. (a different enterprise becomes new JCE) What should we do in this scenario? Will any of these situations become material change?  

Answers

• Lynne Feldman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 27, 2022

  All would need to be analyzed to respond to your question.

• Robert V Cornish Jr

  Securities Attorney

  Answered on January 26, 2022

  An ownership change would in fact be a material change that would need to be filed with USCIS. But how this is handled given the lapse of the RC program is open to question. For the time being, I would suggest that you and others work with your immigration counsel and a corporate attorney to monitor the situation so that your rights in the project are not diminished to the point where you cannot claim EB-5 benefits.

• Bernard P Wolfsdorf

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 26, 2022

  The concept is to stick to the business plan as much as possible. Delay can be excused but having a new JCE is dangerous, whereas if there is merely a new officer in the JCE, then arguably it is not material change.

• Salvatore Picataggio

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 26, 2022

  I would imagine the second one being a material change. The first....maybe. How significant of a change in ownership are we talking about? The full ownership of the JCE itself?