How can I invest directly in an EB-5 project without going through a regional center?

The suggested offer from your friend appears to be outside the purview of EB-5 procedures and sounds like an offer of a private agreement between the two of you. It is more so, considering that the project in question is operating through a regional center. Advisably, consult your attorney prior to signing any agreement to ensure your interests are well-defined and protected.

Sure. You can invest directly with the project. The managers of the project have the right to allocate newly-hired employees to the individual investors. Make sure there are enough jobs for all to have 10. The advantage of the regional center is that they do not have to hire 10 employees for each investor. They just have to show, by economic data, that the project will create enough jobs in the community. So if you friend has a project that is within a regional center, it is often wise to use the RC data for job creation. You should consider that. I don&#39t think it should cost you any extra money to use the RC.

I would need more details about the situation to answer your questions.

We would need more details. This does not really make sense. You need to cooperation of the regional center to show job creation. Not clear how your investing in the project directly would show job creation without using regional center project methodology.

It may create issues for you because a regional center project will have its own EB-5 business plan and job creation where indirect jobs can be counted. You need to be certain 10 direct jobs will be credited toward your EB-5 investment and will have to have a consistent EB-5-compliant business plan for your direct investment. You should discuss this in great detail with an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney.

You may make a direct EB-5 investment provided that, as a result of your investment, you can establish that you created 10 direct jobs for U.S. workers. However, if the project is being marketed through a regional center, you would normally want to invest through the regional center in order to make sure there is sufficient job creation.

I think you would need a completely separate set of project documentation and a solid chance of 10 direct jobs that you can claim. It would depend on the structure of the deal and entities involved. I would need to know a lot more, but it&#39s certainly worth exploring.

It is not entirely clear, but if you are asking whether you can invest as a true equity investor, sure. Just because a project uses EB-5 capital doesn&#39t mean you&#39re precluded from buying an equity stake in the project itself. If you&#39re asking whether you can invest in it as a direct EB-5 project, even though it&#39s already an RC project, I&#39d generally caution against it because of the messiness and complication of possibly double counting jobs.

This is tricky. The RC-sponsored project has a specific budget, capital stack, business plan, etc., which has been submitted to USCIS. Anything you may submit as part of your direct investment must be consistent and make sense with the existing info. Additional issues related to job creation must be explored. Direct jobs will likely not come from construction activities. There must be a nexus between your investment, the jobs created and so on. Overall, lots of issues to consider.