Can the EB-5 be issued to me if I am not the principal investor? Almost all of the $3 million investment will be made by my sibling who is based in the USA and is a citizen of the USA. I will be managing the operations of the company. The company will be for the development of real estate in a major city of USA and will create enough jobs. I am currently a full-time employee in a multi-national organization in my home country and hold a MBA degree from the best business school in my country. Although I have no experience of running a business, I am well aware of how to manage one. Furthermore, my siblings husband is a multi-millionaire running his own IT firm in USA and that is the source of funds.
You will not qualify for an EB-5 visa. EB-5 requires the investment to derive from personal funds. A choice may be if the investment funds are gifted to you. The EB-5 regulations allow for the funds to be gifted with proper documentation of such gift. You may also explore the choice of an H1B visa sponsored by the company you will be working for.
For a direct investment, the EB-5 program requires investment of personal funds in a new commercial enterprise that creates 10 full time jobs. If you invest your own personal funds then you may be able to utilize this visa program. Personal funds may be gifted to you as well, the giftor would then need to provide documentation to verify lawful source of funds.
Based on the facts you provided, you will not be benefited from this EB-5 investment. There might be other options for you. Please consult an immigration lawyer.
Unfortunately, the scenario you describe will not allow you to obtain a green card through the EB-5 program. However, there are other options you may want to explore such as an H1B visa sponsored by your brother-in-law''s company.
You must be able to qualify in your own right as a principal investor in order to obtain the EB-5 visa. You may want to discuss other employment immigration options with an immigration attorney, such as L-1A visa. Please contact our office should you have further questions.
The EB-5 is restricted to a Principal Investor and his or her spouse and dependent minor children. If you want to do the EB-5 program it would need to be your money invested in the commercial enterprise or money from one of your siblings to you and invested in your name which could be secured by assets other than the commercial enterprise itself. It appears you may have a far easier route to a green card for yourself and your family though through an L-1A and multinational manager/executive route. Feel free to set up a consult to discuss in more depth.
There are a few options you may explore. The best way to come up with a successful option in your case, please hire an experienced investment and business visas'' immigration attorney. But in short, your sibling can gift you the required $1,000,000 to qualify you for EB-5 or the company can employ you under H-1B program as a manager. On the H-1B visa, your employer can apply for you to have an option (if qualified) to receive legal permanent status. This is a very short answer and consulting with an immigration attorney for more details should be next.
To obtain an EB-5 conditional permanent residency you must be an EB-5 investor either personally investing $500,000.00 or $1 Million. You may be gifted the required investment amount and then you can apply for the EB-5 visa.
Would your sibling be willing to gift you the funds before the capital investment is made?
You must be an investor in order to receive EB-5 benefits. If your sibling gives you funds that you personally invest, that might qualify, but not it is only your sibling''s investment. You may be able to receive immigration benefits other than EB-5 if you qualify for a different type of visa or green card based upon an employer-employee relationship with the company.
If you are not actually investing the funds, you cannot qualify for EB-5 benefit. Perhaps, your sibling may wish to gift you the $1 million and have you become one of the principal investor as he does not need the EB-5 option as a citizen.
Only the person that submits an EB-5 Petition can be eligible for a green card. The investor''s immediate family (spouse and minor children) will also qualify for green cards. To qualify for a petition you must put up your own money ($1M or $500K) for an investment in a business that will generally employee 10 U.S. Workers. An EB-5 Petition is for foreign investors, not U.S. Citizens. In your case there may be options other than EB-5, such as intercompany transfer for example. You should consult with an Immigration Attorney who can review your situation, advise you about the options available and help you with the legal paperwork.
You would have to be the investor making at least $1M investment. You should contact an attorney about this to find out if there is a way for you to become a principal investor.
Generally, the person making the investment is the only person entitled to receive U.S. Immigration benefits (the conditional green card, for EB-5 investments). The investor''s immediate family (spouse and children under 21 years of age) can be included as derivative beneficiaries, but not siblings. Your sibling could still be the source of funds for your investment, if he gives you the funds needed as a gift, but if the sibling is the investor, you cannot be included otherwise. Working with experienced EB-5 attorneys such as those at our law firm can help you formulate a strategy to achieve your immigration goals.
For EB-5, only the investor, his/her spouse and unmarried children under 21 years old can get the EB-5 green card. If you do not make the investment, you cannot get a green card under the EB-5 category if all the investment is made by your sibling. However, you can have your sibling gift you the required amount of investment and then invest into the company under your own name.
If you want to obtain the EB-5 directly, he should either gift or lend you the money, unsecured. You must have your own money to be designated an Immigrant investor. If you have been employed for at least 1 year outside of the U.S. for a multinational with an office in the U.S. as an executive or manager, they could transfer you into the US to work for the same parent or subsidiary as manager or executive under an L-1 intracompany transferee. That would get you to the U.S. more quickly than a green card. After you have been admitted under the L visa, you could qualify for the green card multinational executive or manager.
Let me ask you a few questions. 1. Will the real estate company be a new one, or is it an existing business? 2. Will it have 10 full-time employees (not part-time or subcontractors)? You do not have to be the principal investor. But if the company is an existing one, you would have to hire 10 MORE employees.
There is no requirement for you to be the principal investor.
The process would be that your sibling should gift you the money. And then, you can make an investment in the company with the gift. That is sufficient for the EB-5 classification. Of course, you would need to show the source of funds from your sibling for the gift.
