Questions and Answers > EB-5 Requirements

What requirements should an existing business meet as an EB-5 qualified business?

We are a nursing home located in a rural area of Arizona. We want to use EB-5 funds to renovate our facility and expand our business. What requirements do we have to meet before we start promoting ourselves to EB-5 investors?

Answers

• Fredrick W Voigtmann

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 3, 2019

  The business must have been established after Nov. 26, 1990, or it must have been reorganized or expanded such that a new commercial enterprise (NCE) has been established. The NCE must create 10 full-time positions within the two years of conditional residency. Existing jobs likely cannot be counted unless the NCE qualifies as a "troubled business." You need to have a comprehensive business plan based on credible and feasible data that can be verified independently. Your business plan must be Matter of Ho compliant. An experienced EB-5 immigration attorney can advise you on specifics.

• Julia Roussinova

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on May 2, 2019

  This is a complex question for an online forum. It depends whether you are a relatively recently formed commercial enterprise or have been operating for a while. If you have operated for a while, you will need to qualify based on a 40% expansion rule, i.e., a 40% increase in net worth or number of employees. Alternatively, you may qualify if you are a troubled business. An EB-5 investor will be interested whether or not you will assist them in the minimum full-time job creation to qualify for EB-5 green card. In order to qualify for a lower EB-5 investment threshold, you must also be principally doing business in a targeted employment area. Otherwise, the minimum EB-5 investment threshold is currently $1 million. Have a comprehensive consultation with an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney to review all options.

• Marko Issever

  EB-5 Broker Dealer

  Answered on April 30, 2019

  Your biggest challenge with buying an "existing" business will be to prove that you "saved" existing jobs or you "created" new jobs. In either case, the impact you make has to be at least for 10 full-time positions. You can reorganize an existing business into a new commercial enterprise or expand the existing one with 40% or more increase in either net worth or number of employees. You will also need to get the location of your project certified as TEA. Otherwise, you would be subject to $1 million minimum investment rule.

• Blake Harrison

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  The EB-5 investment would need to be able to create 10 additional jobs. The existing employees would not be able to be counted toward the 10-job creation requirement.

• Lynne Feldman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  You will have to show a project for the funds and how the project with the new investment will increase the number of jobs by 10 for each $500,000 investor, business plan is required along with details of the project, what type of interest the investor will have in the facility in return for their money, rate of return, etc.

• Bernard P Wolfsdorf

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  Investing in an existing business is much more difficult unless it is a troubled business losing money. The regulations talks about two options. Purchase an existing business and "simultaneous or subsequent restructuring or reorganize such that a new commercial enterprise results," or expand an existing business such that a 40% increase either in the net worth or the number of employees results. Either way, USCIS expects at least 10 new employees minimum. As a practical matter it is so much better and easier to simply start a new business from the ground up so you can easily prove the investment created the new jobs.

• Belma Demirovic Chinchoy

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  This question is overly broad for this forum. The business needs to meet all EB-5 requirements, i.e., job creation, TEA qualification, management rights and so on.

• Barbara Suri

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  Your question involves more details than could be addressed in this forum. In a nutshell, your inquiry seems to fit into the category for a "substantial change" of at least a 40% increase in the net worth, or an increase in the number of employees hired. You should seriously consult with an experienced EB-5 immigration lawyer.

• Phuong Le

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  Depends on how long you've been in business and if there's any bridge financing that can be replaced by EB-5. A longer discussion is necessary, but there are two basic scenarios. If it's a well-established business and you're using EB-5 to expand your operations, you likely have a high treshhold to qualify because you'll have to show a 40% increase in your business' net worth/employees. If it is a relatively new business and you have short-term financing that you intended to replace with EB-5, it may qualify even if the business has already started without EB-5 funds.

• Charles Foster

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  In order to accept EB-5 investors, you would have to consult with experienced legal counsel, preferably someone with significant immigration law experience, board-certified in immigration and nationality law in your home state of Arizona, if permitted, with particular experience in representing both EB-5 investors and, in particular, EB-5 projects. You would have to determine whether or not your business is located in a targeted employment area (TEA) so that the minimum investment would be $500,000 and how much funds you want to raise. You'd also have to determine whether or not, as a result of each $500,000 or $1 million investment, as the case may be, whether or not you would be able to show that you had created 10 additional jobs for U.S. workers. You would also have to demonstrate how those funds will be used to renovate your current facility and expand your business.

• Salvatore Picataggio

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on April 29, 2019

  First, I want to see if it is "existing" per the EB-5 definition, but otherwise, there is additional job-creation requirements and other matters that I would prepare for.