My family started as an investor for an EB-5 program in 2012. My father is the main applicant and my mom and I are dependents on the application. I was not 21 yet at the time we applied. Then we all got our conditional green cards. In October 2014, the entire family applied for I-829 to have the condition removed for permanent green cards. We were asked to visit USCIS to provide our fingerprints. At the end of 2014, my parents got travel documents to prove the validity of their green cards for 1 year. Starting from the end of 2015, the entire family started to get extension stamps on passports to prove validation. If my father decided to give up his application, how can I and my mom keep our green cards at this stage of our application? How can we transfer the ownership of the EB-5 project?
At this stage of your green card processing the principal applicant (your father) needs to continue with the processing in order for the I-829 to be fully adjudicated. If he transfers the business ownership and you stand as the principal applicant, then you may have to start the entire process over. This would not be advisable.
It is advisable the EB-5 investor obtains their unconditional permanent residency so that the spouse and minor children ( at the time of filing the I-526 petition ), can all obtain their unconditional permanent residency.
Your father should not quit the process now in order for you as dependents to remove your condition.
If the I-829 was filed in 2014 and it has not yet been adjudicated, you or your attorney should follow up with USCIS, which is processing I-829 petitions filed earlier than October of 2015. It is recommended that your father not give up his green card until the I-829 is approved. There should be no need to transfer any ownership in the EB-5 project.
It is very difficult for dependents to keep their green cards if the primary petitioner withdraws the petition prior to the approval of the initial petition on Form I-526. However, since you all have your conditional green cards and your father has filed the Petition to Remove Conditions on Form I-829, at this stage there would be no further actions required of your father so I am not certain how that would impact you. Should your father abandon his Lawful Permanent Residency, you and your mother can still keep your Lawful Permanent Residency or so-called "green card" status. The ownership can be transferred according to the terms and conditions set forth in the Private Placement Memorandum of the project in which you invested.
It seems like you are very close to getting your 10-year (unconditional) green card. At this point, the best solution would be to wait for the entire family to remove the condition, so the green cards of yours and your mother would not be dependent on that of your father.
It is not advisable that the principal of an EB-5 petition withdraws his or her petition prior to successful completion of the permanent green card application. Otherwise, the relatives of the principal will consequently lose their own opportunity to obtain green cards.
In order to complete your case, the I-829 must be approved so your father, as the principal applicant cannot quit now. If he needs to be out of the US, for a legitimate reason, he can apply for a reentry permit. If you bought the business, that might not work and you would have to start all over again.
The EB-5 investment has been made. Your mom and you should be able to continue with the permanent residence process. You need a consultation appointment with an attorney who is experienced with EB-5 matters.
If the principal applicant does not remove the condition from his status, the dependents also cannot remove the condition from their status.
