EB-5
USCIS administers the EB-5 Program that allows investors (and spouses and their unmarried children younger than 21) to apply for a Green Card if:
(a) they make the necessary investment in a commercial enterprise in the U.S.; and
(b) a plan exists to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.
The Green Card is typically received in about 1½ to 2 years, and there is no need for further education or employment. Currently, the Green Card application can be filed along with the EB-5 petition — and this includes receiving work authorization and travel permit usually within 3 to 6 months of filing.
EB-5 requires from the investor a lot of money, all derived through lawful means, for an at-risk capital investment of $800,000 to $1,050,000 — in addition to the substantial attorney fees and expenses to be paid by the investor. The EB-5 investor might receive some modest monetary return on their investment — but they typically are most interested in the significant non-monetary benefits that come with having a Green Card.
In assembling the money to be invested, the investor can use loans or gifts from family members and friends, as long as each amount loaned or gifted was derived through lawful means.
The most popular form of capital investment involves investing in a real estate project through a "Regional Center" approved by USCIS based on proposals to promote economic growth. Depending on the project, such investments can be made in installments.
Typical Regional Center EB-5 projects have a projected repayment timeline of 5 to 7 years, often after the investor's conditional residency period ends and the project achieves its job-creation goals. However, investors are not given any repayment guarantees. EB-5 investments must be "at-risk."
If a potential EB-5 investor does not want to start residing in the U.S. immediately, the EB-5 can be in the name of one of their children — and then the child can live, work and/or study anywhere in the U.S., with benefits such as potential in-state tuition and scholarships — and family reunification in the U.S. can be a possibility at a later point.
Green Card holders are considered U.S. tax residents, and this has many aspects. One is that they can be subject to U.S. income tax on all their income, regardless of where it is earned. But compared to other options, EB-5 can be a simpler, more straightforward path to permanent residency in the U.S.