We are going to invest in an American company, when being evaluated our assets amount, should we devote all my funds in the escrow account at one time? Or by installment?
If through direct investment, you may transfer capital in installments. If it''s an investment through a regional center, you may be compelled to fully place the investment funds in escrow by the regional center, although the legislation allows for staggered transfers.
I am not very clear as to what you are trying to do. If you are investing in an RC, you will have to deposit the entire sum prior to filing your I-526. If you are engaging in a direct investment, you may be able to do installments, however, in my experience it is always better to have all the funds in escrow. If the issue is that your country of origin restricts the amount of currency being transferred, then installments are fine provided you can source the funds. However, I would encourage you to have all the funds in escrow before filing.
I am assuming you are investing in your own EB-5 business and the legal requirement is that you as the investor has invested or are in the process of investing. By having placed the entire required amount of personal funds into escrow you may direct the investment funds into the New Commercial Enterprise by installments according to a comprehensive business plan.
If the American company you mentioned is a regional center, you will pay the full amount of investment all at once. If it is a direct EB-5 project, you may pay the investment by installments as the law says that you can be in the process of investment. But, I would suggest you invest the full amount at one time because USCIS can be very picky in determining if the money that has not been investment is "at risk" or not.
The answer to this depends very much on the project you are investing in. I suggest you call me and I can thoroughly evaluate with you.
An EB5 investor must be ''invested'' or ''in the process of investing'' into the New Commercial Enterprise. Escrow accounts are commonly used by New Commercial Enterprises for EB5 investments, and commonly receive the entire amount of the investment at one time. However, the particulars of the escrow and transfer of funds will be a matter of discussion for you and the New Commercial Enterprise. Of course, retaining an experienced EB5 attorney, like the attorneys at our law firm, can help you with reaching your U.S. Immigration goals.
Escrow funds are useful in that you can demonstrate funds as being invested once placed in an escrow account, and the infusion of the capital to the business may be conditioned on the I-526 Petition approval. So it would provide a bit of a safe haven and added protection under this structure. As far as your question regarding whether to put the funds in installments, the answer is that in order for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor to qualify for the EB-5, the requisite minimum amount (either $500,000 or $1 million) must have all been invested; therefore, installments won''t work unless you intend to wait until all the installments are in place to meet the minimum amount of investment until you file the petition.
This is a business decision. But most projects require that all funds be placed into escrow in a short period of time after subscribing.
