Questions and Answers > EB-5 Investments

What burden of proof do U.S. citizens have when making an EB-5 investment?

I have an existing business founded in 2011 with several founders in the company. Now we are thinking about the direct EB-5 financing. I was told that for pooled investment, even if my co-founders and I will not apply for green cards because we are U.S. citizens, we still need to prove our legal source of funds of the investments made by the founders in this company. Is this true? To what extent should we provide the documents? Do we have the same burden of proof as the foreign investor who needs the green card to prove our own source of funds?

Answers

• Reza Rahbaran

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on March 5, 2014

  The foreign investors only needs to prove source of funds. The U.S. investor does not have the same burden.

• Shahzad Q Qadri

  RC Creator

  Answered on January 31, 2014

  I do apologize for not clearly understanding your question, but why would you be making an EB-5 investment if you are U.S. citizen? Are you saying that you will be seeking EB-5 investment into your company? If that is the case, then the investor does have to show the source of funds.

• Rohit Kapuria

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 13, 2014

  Difficult to properly answer your generic query, however, your burden will generally be lower than that of an EB-5 investor. USCIS is principally concerned with the EB-5 investor's source and path of funds. The business plan should, at minimum, describe the sources for the non-EB-5 funds. If these are complex, you might need to provide some evidence of your funds.

• A Olusanjo Omoniyi

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 13, 2014

  An EB-5 application is an immigration law issue applicable only to foreign investors in the United States. U.S. citizens are not immigrants and they do not need to prove legal source(s) of their investment funds to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). USCIS has no jurisdiction over the U.S. citizens' investment activities within the United States. Advisably, for your proposed pooled investment with foreign investors' capital, please focus your attention instead on the need for compliance with your state and federal securities laws.

• Lynne Feldman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 13, 2014

  There is no burden on U.S. investors.

• Fredrick W Voigtmann

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 10, 2014

  No, it is not true. There is no such requirement.

• Philip H Teplen

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 10, 2014

  Only the investors need to prove legality of funds.

• Salvatore Picataggio

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 10, 2014

  While the investor will have to show his or her funds were authentically obtained and transferred, the non-EB-5 sources of funds needs to provide at least some detail on where those funds come from. I do not believe the standard is as high for non-EB-5 sources of funds.

• Jinhee Wilde

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 9, 2014

  You have been misinformed. The legal source of fund documentation required is for the foreign investors who will invest and seek immigration benefit. Investors/owners of the company who will not see immigration benefit, such as yourself, a U.S. citizen, do not have to show source of fund. When pooling the investment, it is the foreign investor''s funds that need to be tracked and traced, but you could add their investment funds to your funds to show total amount of investment for the project/business to come up with total jobs created. I would suggest that you consult an experience EB-5 attorney to explain in more detail for your foreign investor''s immigration process.

• Ed Beshara

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 9, 2014

  You will need to retain an experienced EB-5 law firm to advise you on the best approvable EB-5 legal and financial infrastructure. If the EB-5 funds will be used in a Bridge Loan setting then the source of the non-EB-5 funds will need to be described. Primarily, the foreign national investors are required to prove the lawful source of the personal investment funds.