What costs can be counted in a direct EB-5 investment?

Payroll may be able to be counted. Working with a good EB-5 professional team will get all of the sources and uses of funds prepared for an approvable I-526 Petition.

Generally, the operational expenses, particularly salaries to employees under the EB-5 investment, would count as part of your investment.

Generally, wages to qualifying employees under the EB-5 program are counted toward the EB-5 investment. Employees cannot include the EB-5 investor or his/her immediate relatives or certain other non-qualified individuals. Your investment must go toward job creation activities.

Yes, a reasonable portion of the investment could be used in conjunction with the payment of salaries given the fact that any active investment requires employees. The minimum investment is $500,000, but only if you are located in a Targeted Economic Area (TEA) and you have to show that you have at least 10 U.S. workers and obviously their salaries must be paid along with any other reasonable payments for salaries, which could be paid out of the investment amount.

Payment of wages to eligible employees, meaning to U.S. workers other than the investor and his immediate family with the requisite lawful status, can be counted towards the investment if infused correctly and in accordance with the business plan, such that there is a direct connection between the investment and the job creation. It is not about payment of wages - it is about the investment creating new jobs, or in the rare case of a troubled business, saving jobs.