How can I make an earlier investment qualify for EB-5?

We would have to show the investment and job creation; unfortunately, at this point, there is no premium processing option. We are happy to discuss this further with you.

If your company made the investment, then you cannot get an EB-5. It must be your personal investment. You would need to make a personal investment of your own lawfully-obtained capital in order to qualify for EB-5.

You have to show that as a result of your investment, at least 20 jobs were created. However, the longer you wait, the more chance business may be considered "existing," and the requirements change. There are currently no formal premium processing options available for I-526 petitions.

I suggest that you seek qualified counsel, as officially the investment is to be new money. There are many questions that need to be answered.

Unfortunately, there is no premium process when it comes to EB-5. You can hire an EB-5 attorney immediately to start the petition.

Your earlier investment in the company if it was created after November 29, 1990 can still qualify if the necessary minimum investment and job creation levels are maintained. This has been discussed by USCIS in the past. For more information, please feel free to contact me.

First, I would need to know more facts from you. For example, we would need to know whether all the investment funds are transferred from the company in Asia or whether any of the funds came from you personally. To date, the EB-5 regulations require the investor to invest their personal funds into the U.S. business, and hence the foreign company cannot invest the investment funds into the U.S. corporation. Therefore, the structure and source of the investments may not allow you to apply for residency under the EB-5 category.

Contact an immigration employment attorney and consult on your eligibility. If you can show the source of your personal income that was used for investment into a U.S. company and the required amount of qualified investment, then it will be a simple matter of filing several documents with USCIS and DOS.

In EB-5 cases, pre-existing investments and non-EB-5 investments in particular cannot generally be converted to EB-5 visa processing. I would not second guess your initial investment goals and plans without examining what your original visa status was at the time of your investments. At this moment, it is advisable you talk to an EB-5 visa attorney on where you should go from now. If your goal is to turn this business investment into EB-5, it appears you are on the right track to make a successful one. However, more facts are needed to make sure you meet EB-5 requirements. With regards to premium processing options, there are no premium processing options per se in EB-5 visa cases, but there is what is known as expedited processing procedure(s). To qualify for an expedited processing procedure, you must meet at least one of the seven (7) grounds to merit consideration for such action. A complimentary discussion on your options can be made available to you by our office, and be willing to share the details of your investments, the source of your investment funds, the employment outlook for your business and how you plan to manage the business from this point forward.

Since the U.S. company was established last year with funding done, it is EB-5 qualified as a new business. You should work with an accountant or corporate attorney to develop a business plan that details how the business helps revitalize economic development in that area and add jobs with a job title and a description of every full-time, permanent job position in an organizational chart. You should hire an experienced EB-5 attorney to work with your accountant or corporate attorney to make the business plan EB-5 ready, and then prepare your immigration petition (I-526) to file. There is no premium processing for the EB-5 process, unfortunately, and the normal processing times that USCIS reports is 19 months.

You probably will be able to use that investment in the EB-5 direct program; the only issue will be to show that the money where your partnership distribution is from is the company in Asia. As you probably know, the EB-5 program requires the investor to invest their personal funds, not company. You might want to consider other options, like EB1-5 (international executive), which are more suitable in the event of foreign company investment. With regard to premium processing, unfortunately there is no premium processing for EB5 at this time; however, in our experience for the last few years, direct investment EB-5s (not regional center) were usually processed within three to five months. However, EB1-5 applications do enjoy premium processing options and could be achieved even faster. Please feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss your options further.