I am planning an EB-5 business in California that will have additional equipment and property that can be subleased. One of the companies interested is a fully licensed medical marijuana grow company of a friend. Can I lease out my equipment or property to that firm? During EB-5 filing, will I need to provide information about which firms are subleasing? Would the nature of those businesses have any effect on my EB-5 application?
If you have contracts in place, you may need to disclose, and the conservative approach is to be fully truthful and transparent. How USCIS will review marijuana operations is not clear, as only on a state level is marijuana-growing legal (U.S. immigration is controlled by federal law).
The EB-5 investment has to be invested in one lawful new commercial business and has to be the basis for the creation of ten new full-time jobs.
USCIS does not care who you are contracting with. They only care if you have created 10 work positions, if your business is legal in California.
In conjunction with your EB-5 investment, the better course of action is always full disclosure. You have to disclose all material information and certainly the fact that one of the companies interested in subleasing a portion of your property is a fully licensed medical marijuana growing company could be deemed to be material. Thus, while there is no specific requirement, the better course of action would be full disclosure regarding the companies that are subleasing your property so that a potential investor could properly evaluate their credit worthiness and risks and whether the businesses would be successful.
As long as the company is a lawful for-profit entity, there should be no problem dealing with them.
I am not sure a marijuana business is a good idea as it is a class A drug under federal law. Regardless, the issue is jobs. How will this business create jobs? This is the critical issue.
