USASIA Pacific, Inc.
USASIA Pacific, Inc.
USASIA Pacific, Inc.
_________EB-5 Visa_________
EB-5 PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Basic Requirements
Applicants must meet three basic requirements to obtain an EB-5 visa:
Establishment of a Business
Investment of at least $1 million in the business (though $500,000 is acceptable in certain cases).
Creation of full-time employment for at least 10 US workers.
Creation of full-time employment for at least 10 US workers.
Ways to Establish a Business
To establish a business, you can create an original enterprise, purchase one and restructure or reorganize it, or expand an existing business through investment. You must be actively involved in the business, not just an investor.
Investment Essentials
As for the investment, it can be made in a number of forms, including cash, equipment, inventory and other property. A $1 million investment is typically required, but $500,000 is acceptable if the business is established in a "targeted employment area." Targeted employment areas include rural areas and regions with an unemployment rate that's 150 percent of the national average. An individual may invest the required amount alone, create the business with another immigrant investor, or even US citizens or others not seeking EB-5 visas. If the investment is being made with others, each person who is seeking classification as an immigrant investor must have invested the required $500,000 or $1 million.
Job Creation
The investment must create at least 10 full-time jobs. Spouses or children may not be included in calculating the job-creation requirement. What's more, part-timers may not be used in the calculations.
Conditional Permanent Residence
In order to deter fraud, immigrant investors, their spouses and dependent children are subject to "conditional" permanent residence for a two-year period. After two years, the entrepreneur is eligible to file to end the conditional status. To do that, the entrepreneur must have continuously maintained the investment during the conditional residence period. The entrepreneur's residence may be terminated if it is found the business was not established or was established solely to evade immigration laws. The INS will examine the business at the end of the two-year period to determine whether or not the individual has complied with all of the EB-5 visa's requirements.
EB-5 ELIGIBILITY
Permanent resident status based on EB-5 eligibility is available to investors, either alone or coming with their spouse and unmarried children. Eligible aliens are those who have invested -- or are actively in the process of investing -- the required amount of capital into a new commercial enterprise that they have established. They must further demonstrate that this investment will benefit the United States economy and create the requisite number of full-time jobs for qualified persons within the United States.
In general, "eligible individuals" include those:
1. Who establish a new commercial enterprise by:
1. Who establish a new commercial enterprise by:
- Creating an original business;
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Purchasing an existing business and simultaneously or subsequently restructuring or reorganizing the business such that a new commercial enterprise results; or
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Expanding an existing business by 140 percent of the pre-investment number of jobs or net worth, or retaining all existing jobs in a troubled business that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months; and
2. Who have invested -- or who are actively in the process of investing -- in a new commercial enterprise:
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at least $1,000,000, or
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at least $500,000 where the investment is being made in a "targeted employment area," which is an area that has experienced unemployment of at least 150 per cent of the national average rate or a rural area as designated by OMB; and
3. Whose engagement in a new commercial enterprise will benefit the United States economy and:
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Create full-time employment for not fewer than 10 qualified individuals; or
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Maintain the number of existing employees at no less than the pre-investment level for a period of at least two years, where the capital investment is being made in a "troubled business," which is a business that has been in existence for at least two years and that has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months.
