• It is issued to those who have the ability, and resources, to invest a minimum of $1 million.
• It doesn’t matter where you get the money from, as long as you have proof of where it came from.
• It can go to as low as $500,000 through specific requirements. It can also be more than a million.
• The money must be invested in a commercial enterprise. Starting a new one or buying an existing one.

Raw Transcript:

Jacob: Hello everybody. You ask, we answer, simple. Welcome to the Ask an Immigration Lawyer Podcast. This is your host, Jacob Sapochnick.

Today, I’ll answer a question that’s been coming to us from emails and our Twitter account. This is about the EB-5 green card eligibility program. Are you eligible for green card through the EB-5 immigration process? How do you know if you’re eligible.

Well, green card through EB-5 immigration process are only issued to people who have the ability and the resources to invest a minimum of a million dollars to create and start a business in the US, or to expand an existing one.

Where you get the money from doesn’t matter. For example, if you get this amount in the form of a gift or an inheritance, then it’s fine. But it’s important you obtain the amount of money through lawful means. So it cannot be like cash without proof where it came from.

Minimum amount needed to be eligible for immigration process can be reduced literally by half, $500,000, but this happens under specific requirements. So, the immigration is also authorized to increase the amount of minimum investment.

For example, you can increase the amount to 2 million but this only happens when the applicant is intending to invest in an area that is economically strong and thriving and has low unemployment rate. We also expect changes in the EB-5 program to raise the amounts even more. But for the moment, we’re talking about a million, a half a million in certain cases.

Passive investment, for example, land speculation, cannot be deemed eligible for a green card in this particular category. Except if the money required is lower through any specific circumstances. This obviously ended in total discretion of the immigration.

The applicants for EB-5 must invest the money in a commercial enterprise. It has to be a choice of either starting a genuine company or buying an existing one. So you can buy a business that were formed after November 29, 1990, you can also acquire business, reorganize, and structure it from the form of a new business entity as well. Okay? The idea is that the EB-5 is a great opportunity for people that can afford it and doing it correctly.

If you want to learn more about the EB-5, you’re welcome to visit our website. We have more resources there. But just kind of to summarize it, it has to be a focus investment. You have to prove that you hired ten full-time workers and you have to show that within the 2 years, because you get a green card for 2 years – it’s a conditional green card – and after 2 years you’re able to remove the conditions and get a permanent green card based on the investment.

EB-5 is a pretty complicated process but if done correctly, pretty much you can get a green card without having to worry about obtaining a work visa.

Hopefully this information is helpful. If you want to learn more, visit us at askanimmigrationlawyer.com. You ask, we answer, simple. See you at our next episode.