My regional center said that as long as the economic analysis of the project can show the jobs were created, then no matter how long they are actually sustained (even if it is less then 2 years), they still count. Is it correct?
There is no clear guidance on how long the jobs must be sustained - the emphasis is on the job creation. There are instances where the company went bankrupt, but the case was approved because the jobs were created. The investment must however be sustained until the I-829 is filed.
Jobs still need to be permanent, which, per the policy, is “Jobs that are intermittent, temporary, seasonal, or transient in nature do not qualify as permanent full-time jobs. However, jobs that are expected to last at least 2 years are generally not considered intermittent, temporary, seasonal, or transient in nature.”
Here is what the USCIS Policy Manual says about this: "In making the determination as to whether or not the immigrant investor has created the requisite number of jobs, USCIS does not require that the jobs still be in existence at the time of the petition to remove conditions adjudication in order to be credited to the investor. Instead, the job creation requirement is met if the investor can show that at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying employees were created by the new commercial enterprise as a result of his or her investment and such jobs were considered to be permanent jobs when created." In the context of a Regional Center investment, this will mean showing that the economic analysis of the project shows that at least 10 direct or indirect jobs per investor were created and sustained by the project for at least 2 years prior to the end of the investor''s 2-year conditional residency period. In a direct investment project, you need to show that the jobs were created directly as a result of your investment, so they should be created after your investment, and need to be sustained for at least 2 years. If you can show that, your I-829 should be approved, even if the jobs are no longer there at the time of I-829 filing.
There is no requirement in the EB-5 law that full-time created jobs must be sustained for any minimum amount of time.
No requirement to sustain jobs; only that they were bona fide full-time positions when created and can be traced back to the JCE.
Perhaps individual jobs need not last over two years, but there have to be ten new jobs at the end of the two years.
Most indirect and induced jobs do not have a sustainment period like direct jobs do. What kind of indirect/induced jobs are in question? For example, if jobs are indirect/induced based on tenant-occupancy, the tenant’s lease must be for no less than 2 years.
