When should I transfer capital into the new U.S. enterprise?

There is no deadline, but when you file the I-526 petition, you must have invested or be in the process of investing in the new commercial enterprise. Please consult an experienced EB-5 attorney to assist you.

The transfer can be either over a period of time or at one time. There can be advantages to both. I suggest that we discuss which option is best for you.

When filing the I-526 petition, you must be invested or in the process of investing. Establish an escrow account to hold the funds until approval is acceptable. Even then, you need to show the funds are invested throughout the conditional permanent residency period.

The EB-5 rules state that at the time of filing the investor''s I-536 petition, the investor must be in the process of investing or have invested already. Therefore it will depend on your business plan when you intend to have your business commit the funds to the operations of the U.S. business. For instance, the funds may be held in escrow until the I-526 petition is approved or the funds could be transferred from the escrow account to the U.S. business when the I-526 petition is filed.

You may transfer the capital immediately, either all at once or in stages, and then you file the I-526 once the full investment has been made. Make sure though, you work with an attorney before you start the transfers as you want to have the entity established and make sure you have a good clean paper trail of where the funds came from. It is best they go directly to your new business account (establish an LLC, obtain an FEIN#, set up a bank account for the new LLC, and then transfer funds). Contact me if you are in need of assistance.

The money needs to be invested by the time you apply for the I-526. You can either directly invest in the project or put it in escrow.

There is no deadline, but you must show that you have invested or are in the process of investing the required amount of capital before you submit the I-526 petition. You should consult with an experienced EB-5 attorney.

Per regulations, you have two years within which to invest the funds (either $500,000 or $1,000,000); however, USCIS prefers to see that you have already invested the entirety of the funds into the U.S. enterprise at the time you file the application with USCIS. Some countries; particularly India and China have restrictions on how much money can be transferred outside the country at one time so if your home country has similar restrictions, you will need to carefully plan the process and timelines for you to be able to get the funds into the U.S.

It would be best to actually make the investment into the company before you file the I-526, Immigrant Petition, to USCIS.