What are the net worth requirements for EB-5 visa applicants?

Generally, if you intend to invest through a regional center project in the United States, regional centers require that you complete investor suitability paperwork to demonstrate you are an accredited investor. This is the requirement under U.S. securities law rather than U.S. immigration law. To be an accredited investor, you must either have an individual or joint net worth with your spouse of at least $1 million (not taking into consideration the value of your main home) or earned individual income of at least $200,000 or joint income with your spouse of at least $300,000 for the past two years, and have reasonable expectation of the same level of individual or joint income in the current year.

You only have to prove the money that is invested into the project. However, you will have to show source of fund proof for the admin fee.

A Reg D offering to the general public will require the investor to be accredited. These requirements apply to a direct and regional center project.

You are required to be an "accredited investor" under SEC rules. Check the latest definition on the SEC web site.

The accredited EB-5 investor eligibility is that the investor either earned $200,000 for the past three years or have net assets of $1 million. The rationale for this is that in order for an investor, who will invest at least $500,000 into an EB-5 investment, to have obtained that amount of money through a legal source, they should either have at least $1 million in net assets or earn a high enough income per year so that they could legitimately make such a large investment.

If you are an investor living in your home country where you are making the decision to invest in an EB-5 project based upon information supplied to you in your home country, you may not need to be an accredited investor. USCIS does not require that you be an accredited investor to qualify for an EB-5 visa. This is rather the U.S. securities law requirement. If you plan to invest through a project within an approved regional center in the United States, then a regional center will generally require that you complete an investor suitability questionnaire or equivalent documentation and attest that you are an accredited investor with certain other exceptions. In this context, to be an accredited investor, you must meet either one of the following requirements: (1) have an individual net worth, or joint net worth with your spouse, of more than $1 million at the time you purchase an interest for investment less the value of your primary residence (i.e. your main home), or (2) have an annual individual income of more than $200,000 or annual joint income with your spouse of more than $300,000 in each of the preceding two years and a reasonable expectation of the same level of individual or joint income in the current year.

EB-5 investments are governed by two U.S. agencies. The most obvious is USCIS, the U.S. immigration agency. The second is the SEC, the U.S. securities regulatory agency. The $1 million net worth requirement is most likely due to securities regulatory requirements. Without going into too much detail, in order to purchase equity in most "private" offerings, the SEC will require that all purchasers be "accredited" - which requires either $1 million in net worth or $200,000 of individual annual income ($300,000 if including spousal income). Any EB-5 deal, whether is it through a regional center or not, will typically require that these income thresholds are met by their investors, in order to comply with U.S. securities law.

It depends if the New Commercial Enterprise and regional center are requiring "Accredited Investors," a U.S. securities law matter. Net worth or asset requirements will be in effect if the NCE is indeed requiring accredited investors.