What are the capital requirements for forming an EB-5 regional center?

A regional center is any economic unit, public or private, engaged in the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation, and/or an increased domestic capital investment. USCIS rules and regulations establish eligibility criteria for a regional center and annual reporting requirements. There is no minimum capital requirement. In addition to the capitalization of the regional center, other costs of setting up and obtaining USCIS approval of a regional center may include fees for an immigrant attorney, an economist, a business and securities attorney, a business plan writer and a market analyst. Cash, equipment, inventory, other tangible property, cash equivalents, or indebtedness secured by assets owned by the regional center can be used as the capital. However, the professionals needed in the application preparation and process may likely require payment in cash. An explanation regarding the sources of these fund should be provided in your business plan.

For the regional center application, you need to retain various professionals to prepare the proper information and documentation. If you are also the principal of the new commercial enterprise/project, the new commercial enterprise/project itself (not the regional center) should have a good mix of EB-5 and non-EB-5 money funding the project development. That is, the regional center entity does not have its own capital requirements.

No, but you have to be able to afford to create the regional center. You need an experienced team of professionals: an immigration lawyer, a securities lawyer, an economist, a business plan writer, an escrow agent, etc. You need not have anything in motion to attain the regional center determination. But, attracting investors is a different story.

A regional center application does not require proving the source of funds of capital.

The amount of capitalization would be commensurate with the size and intent of the regional center. Would you be just filing for one entity or for many areas? What are the geographic parameters? Best find an attorney or firm with some expertise and have a consultation.

An EB-5 application will consist of a business plan stating the financial infrastructure and budget of how the regional center will be administered. It is advisable to have paid in capital for the operation of the regional center company.

There is no legally imposed minimum capital requirement for starting a regional center. Similarly, there is also no requirement for such capital to be limited to cash. Having said that, as operators of a regional center, you will need to bankroll expenses of the regional center up until the first EB-5 investment.

There are no capital requirements to form a regional center. You just need to pay the service fees to the attorneys and economists who help you in forming the regional center.

While there are no specific capital requirements needed to establish a regional center, you can expect to spend between $100,000 and $150,000 to complete the process. Much of the costs also depend on how you choose to file and establish your regional center and EB-5 project (exemplar, actual or hypothetical).