Which family members can qualify for an EB-5 immigrant investor visa?
Will my family members be able to qualify for an EB-5 visa if I am part of it? I know I can bring my wife, but what about my children and sister and other family members?
Your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 will be able to come with you if your EB-5 is approved. As to other family members, they are not covered under the program. In the future, if you would like to petition for your parents, you will need to wait until you become a U.S. citizen first. Then, your parents will be able to join you. Unfortunately, it may take very long until you will be able to bring your brothers and sisters into the U.S.?Even once you become a U.S. citizen, it may take more than 10 years for them to immigrate into the U.S. It may make more sense for them to qualify for a U.S. visa independently.
Other than your spouse, the only other family members who can qualify for U.S. legal permanent residence based on your EB-5 investment are any children you have that are under age 21.
You your spouse and children under 21 qualify under your EB-5 investor visa.
Sisters and other family members do not qualify under the program but they can be sponsored alter when you have your permanent green card.
If you are a principal investor under EB-5 program, your spouse and unmarried children under age 21 at the time of filing I-526 petition are eligible to acquire permanent residence (green card) in the US at the same time as you are. Your sister or parents, or other family members will not be eligible to qualify for permanent residence at the same time and may not be included in your I-526 petition. However, your other family members may either independently qualify as EB-5 investor(s) if they meet the requirements of EB-5 program or you may petition for your sister or parent(s) when you become US citizen. You should consult an immigration attorney to discuss various visa options available for family members of permanent residents or US citizens.
Your immediate family (spouse and minor children) may immigrate as your dependents, but not more extended family members.
Taher Kameli
Immigration Attorney
Answered on
The EB5 will cover you, your spouse and unmarried children under 21 at the time of filing (there may be some issues with Chinese citizens in 2013). Please consult an attorney.
Immigration Petitions usually include the spouse and unmarried children under 21 years of age as derivative beneficiaries. This means that the complete family receives their residency together. Parents and siblings are not included, but there are many other visas that can be used to immigrate them to the United States.
A spouse and qualifying child under age 21 can acquire permanent residence along with the principal applicant (the investor). Sisters and other family members are not considered dependents.
As securities lawyers, we are not generally involved with all of the technical aspects of pursuing the issuance of the temporary visa, however we do need to understand many of the details of that process in order to be able to accurately describe that process in the securities offering and transactional legal documents that we draft on behalf of U.S. business clients seeking to raise EB-5 financing. Our understanding is that the granting of the investor''s individual 526 petition allows for the issuance of visas to the investor, his or her spouse, and minor children only (with ''minor'' defined as under the age of 21 at the time of filing of the 526 petition with USCIS). If a child is no longer a minor, or ''ages out,'' he or she would need to secure his or her own visa on account of making an EB-5-qualifying investment separate from the parent''s investment. Please be advised that a very current ''hot button issue'' has arisen recently involving the situation that the EB-5 Program will likely for the first time use all 10,000 visas allocated to the EB-5 Program, if not in 2012 then certainly in 2013; combined with the fact that individual countries have ceilings or ''country caps'' that limit the number of visas allowable to EB-5 investors from that country, it is possible that insufficient visas will be available until the following year. Therefore, the intersection of minority status with country caps is suddenly a very important but complicated one, and expert counsel from EB-5-experienced U.S. immigration lawyers addressing the individual facts of each investor (and his or her family) should be sought in all cases.
An EB-5 investor may bring his/her immediate family, which is defined as the spouse and any unmarried children who are under the age of 21 years at the time the immigrant visa is granted. No other family members qualify.
All of your dependent family members would qualify. These are defined as spouse, and minor children. Your sister and other family will normally not be included. I trust this helps. If you have further questions, you should call my office or email to schedule a consultations.
with an EB-5 investment, you will be able to obtain immigrant visa (leading to permanent green card) for you, your spouse and children under 21 years of age. Your brother, sister, etc. will have to make their own separate investment. you should consult with a qualified attorney prior to making any plans. Visit our website to schedule an appointment by emailing us at the "contact" page.
The spouse and children under 21 years old can qualify based on the EB-5 investment of the principal investor.
Jinhee Wilde
Immigration Attorney
Answered on
As in any immigrant visa where you get your green card, you could only obtain green card for your immediate family. That includes your spouse and children under age 21 only. Therefore, your sister and her family will have to apply for her own immigrant visa program for her and her family.
Only immediate relatives of an investor can be eligible for EB5 permanent residency track. INA 216A identifies as such only spouses and children of an investor. If other family members can independently qualify as investor (contributing qualifying amounts of capital and other conditions of the program) then they can be also included in classification.
When you apply for an EB-5 visa, your spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 may immigrate with you. It is important to note that the priority date for the EB-5 visa is the date of filing the Form I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur. That means that your children must be less than 21 years of age by the time you file your immigrant petition with the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service. (This is different from some other immigrant visas which require children to be less than 21 at the time of the Consulate interview.)
In addition to the investor, the investor''s ''derivative beneficiaries'' are eligible for a Green Card. Derivative beneficiaries include the investor?s spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21. Other family members, such as a sister or parent are not derivative beneficiaries.
For the EB-5 Visa Category the Investor, spouse and unmarried children under 21 qualify as part of one application. Your children must be under 21 when the I-526 application is received by USCIS.
Immediate family members can qualify. For instance, husband, wife, and minor children, ( all those children under 21 before the filing of the I526 petition by the principle parent). All brothers, sisters and parents not included.
The EB-5 immigrant visa petition is filed by the principal applicant. Once it is approved only the investor, their spouse and children under 21 may derive the green card based on the approved EB-5 petition.
Under a single investment, the investor and his or her immediate family may accompany him or her. That is a spouse and children under the age of 21 and not married. All others have to have their own investment and file separate cases.
In addition to the principal investor, the investor''s spouse and children younger than 21 at the file of filing of the investor''s I-526 petition are conditional EB-5 visa beneficiaries.
