I am thinking about applying for an EB-5 visa but ultimately I am looking to live in New Zealand. Is it possible after obtaining EB-5 investor visa to settle with my family in New Zealand?
Once you apply for the EB-5 visa and it is granted, you and your family will receive a conditional residency. As a conditional resident, you and your family have to reside in the United States. You cannot be out of the U.S. more than 180 days continuously. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
This depends on your long-term objectives. If you are absent from the U.S. for longer than a year without obtaining a reentry permit upon receiving your conditional (2-year) permanent green card, you run the risk of abandoning your lawful permanent resident status in the U.S. For longer absences, it is necessary to obtain a reentry permit and intend to maintain a home in the U.S. Further, lawful permanent residents are still required to pay income taxes on their worldwide income. If you do not intend to maintain permanent residence in the U.S. but rather live in New Zealand with your family, EB-5 program is not a good option for you. You should have a consultation with an immigration attorney to discuss your situation in more detail.
Once your EB-5 petition is approved you will have lawful permanent residence (a green card). In order to maintain your residency you must live and work in the U.S. You may be able to obtain temporary parole to allow you to be absent for extended periods of up to 2 years. Ultimately, if you intend to apply for citizenship you will need to be present in the U.S. for extended periods.
EB-5 visas lead to lawful permanent resident status which then can lead to citizenship. As an LPR (lawful permanent resident) you must intend to live in the U.S. and cannot live or work elsewhere (in general). But if you become a citizen, you can live anywhere in the world. So the answer is- yes you can do the EB-5 and subsequently emigrate from the U.S. to N.Z. but only after you naturalize (five years after you get your LPR status via the EB-5 program).
An EB-5 investor will not be able to reside abroad once he has received his EB-5 visa. Investors who are admitted under the EB-5 visa receive conditional residency for two years. An investor may file a petition 90 days before the end of the two year conditional residency to remove the conditional immigrant status. In order to naturalize, an applicant must have permanent resident status. Conditional residents must first convert to permanent resident status in order to naturalize. To maintain lawful permanent residence status, a resident must have intent to keep U.S. permanent residence. The investor may work overseas if required, but may not leave the U.S. for more than six months in order to maintain his residency. A Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) must apply for a travel document (Form I-131), or a Reentry Permit if he will be outside of the U.S. for more than a year. An LPR must apply for a reentry permit while inside the U.S. and appear for a biometrics appointment before leaving the country. After the biometrics appoint, he may leave the U.S. and pick up his travel document at a U.S. Consulate or DHS office overseas. Reentry permits are valid for two years and non-renewable. However, a Green Card holder may apply for a new permit after the expiration of the existing permit. Generally, to apply for U.S. citizenship, an applicant must meet reside in the U.S. for five years immediately preceding the application. The applicant must be physically present in the U.S. for at least 30 months of those 5 years. To preserve continuous residence for naturalization purposes, an LPR may file form N-470 if he needs to leave the U.S. for certain employment purposes. The applicant may file this form if he will be absent from the U.S. for more than a year. He must have been physically present and residing in the U.S. for an uninterrupted period, without any absences, for at least one year after admission as a permanent resident. Furthermore, the applicant must also have qualifying employment in a specific job with the U.S. government, private sector, or religious organization. In addition to form N-470, the LPR must also apply for a reentry permit (Form I-131) for trips outside of the U.S. lasting more than one year.
As an Australian, I do not blame you for wanting to continue to spend a lot of time in New Zealand. However, please remember that the idea of obtaining conditional permanent residency is that you and your family intend to treat the U.S. as your home and will only be visiting New Zealand. Please call me with any further questions.
The EB-5 process results in a permanent resident card. The requirements of that card are that you reside permanently in the USA, and any absence over 1 year can result in the rescission of your permanent residence.
As a Legal Permanent Resident (That''s what you will receive when your EB-5 visa is granted), you cannot be outside the US more than 180 days on your trips abroad. Also, you have to establish residency somewhere in the U.S. Hence, you can stay in New Zealand, but in order to not lose your U.S. residency, you have to come back every 6 months. If you are working or doing business in New Zealand, you can apply for advanced parole which will allow you to stay out for up to 2 years. Your immigration attorney can advise you in more details.
The EB5 program is for investors to obtain legal permanent residence in the United States. If an individual chooses not to reside in the United States, they will lose their status as permanent residents.
No. An EB-5 green card is for lawful permanent residents of the U.S.; it is not for non-residents or non-immigrants. There are other temporary visas available, but none based upon an EB-5 investment; that is for the green card.
You must permanently reside in the U.S. in order to maintain resident status in the U.S. It will be a wasted effort to apply for a green card if you do not intend to live in the U.S. permanently.
You have to reside near your EB-5 business after I-526 approval if it is a standard EB-5 petition. But if you invest through a regional center, you can live anywhere, provided that you return to the U.S. every year for some extended period of time or apply for re-entry permits.
Why not take advantage of New Zealand''s immigrant investor program, if that is where you wish to live?
Once you are granted permanent residence through EB-5 Immigrant Investor or any other Immigrant category, you are declaring a permanent resident intent (i.e., that you intend to make U.S. your permanent residence). This means, if you have plans to travel abroad or live abroad at lengths you can do 1 of 2 things to preserve your Permanent Residence ("greencard") status: 1) You can file a Re-entry Permit before leaving the U.S., which declares to the USCIS that you fully intend to permanently reside in the U.S. but that you have reasons why you need to be abroad at lengths (usually granted for maximum of 2 year period, and you can keep filing if you need further time abroad); or 2) you can travel back to the U.S. at least 1 to 2 times a year so that you can avoid the presumption of abandonment of permanent residence which would be the case if you''ve been outside the U.S. for a year or more without an intervening travel to the U.S. Hope the information helps.
If you participate in the EB-5 program, you will be seeking permanent resident status in the U.S. If you have no plans to reside in the U.S., you do not need permanent resident status. In order to become a citizen and not be subject to residency restrictions, you must have a green card for 5 years and be physically present in the U.S. for at least half of that time.
Why would you go into all this trouble if you do not want to live in the U.S.? If you get a green card and later move outside the U.S. you may abandon it and it will be lost.
You cannot depart from the U.S. for more than 6 months straight without jeopardizing your residence status.
If you do not move to the U.S. you would lose your permanent residence.
You need to live here in the U.S. for more than half the year.
EB-5 visa is an immigrant visa category, which establishes an investor to be a permanent resident of the U.S. Thus, if you do not wish to permanently reside in U.S., you should not consider this long and arduous process.
Once you have obtained a greencard, eventually you can get citizenship. Once you have citizenship you can move anywhere in the world. This will take approximately 5 years.
