The EB5 visa for a US Green Card (Permanent Residency) by investment into the most popular Government approved EB5 Regional Center
You and your immediate family can now obtain green cards and permanent US residency with an EB5 visa by investing $500,000 into a government designated Regional Center. It will give each of you the security of permanent US residency without repeated visa applications. Citizenship may be obtained after five years.
Green Card. The attraction of a green card via an EB-5 investment visa is that it can be secured before you commit to emigrating. You will also have the flexibility to take any job, run any business, retire and live anywhere in the USA. As a resident you will have access to many of the benefits enjoyed by US citizens such as education and, in certain states such as Florida, you will enjoy substantial savings in property tax.
Permanent Residency. For most, emigrating to the USA is about a better quality of life. Permanent residency avoids repeated visa applications and allows you the opportunity of dual citizenship. The EB-5 visa will secure you Permanent Residency.
Enjoy an American Life with American Life Inc.
For more Regional Center investment and EB5 visa information call our London office on (0)20 7408 9450 or complete
the simple online registration for our latest brochure.
What is a Regional Center?
A Regional Center is an area designated by the USCIS as eligible to receive immigrant investor capital. They are especially attractive because investors may rely on indirect job creation rather than directly hiring ten employees.
Government Designated
Some Regional Centers encourage the perception that, because they are Government designated, the investment has the Government’s stamp of approval. They do not. Please be aware that all Regional Centers are Government designated for purposes of immigration. This does not guarantee the quality of the investment. You should assess the investment on its own merits and seek professional investment advice.
At Risk
The law states that a Regional Center investment must be ‘at risk’. That means it cannot be guaranteed. Apart from that, it does not have to be ‘risky’.
Which type of Regional Center investment?
There are three types of Regional Center investments. If you decide that the EB-5 is your visa of choice, the next key decision is to select a Regional Center which −
- protects your capital
- has a long record of success with visa applications
- doesn't tie up your capital for any longer than necessary
- compensates for inflation with income and prospects for capital growth
1 Loan Based Investments
A few Regional Centers now offer ‘loan’ based schemes, where your funds are lent to another organisation for local infrastructure projects. A municipality or associated development agency usually becomes responsible for repaying your capital. Should the municipality or agency default or restructure its debt, it could be a long time before your capital is repaid. Click here for a Bloomberg article on municipal debt.
2 Equity Investments – active trading businesses
Equity investments are asset based and can be either property or actively trading businesses. Active trading businesses are managed directly by the company operating the Regional Center. The active trading businesses are small and are not on any recognised stock exchange. They are vulnerable to market forces such as demand and competition, so their value and prospects are hard to assess. Sadly, a few such investments have failed. Funds can be lost entirely and, if some capital is recovered, it might take a considerable time.
3 Equity Investments – property
As any fund manager will testify, most investments carry risks, and that includes property. But a property without any debt − and zero debt is the key − carries almost no risk of loss. Compared to a trading activity or a loan, a property is a small piece of ‘planet earth’ that cannot be taken away. Buildings may be destroyed, but if insured, will be replaced. Values do decline in recessionary periods, but history has demonstrated that property prices soon rise again to surpass previous peaks. This has been the case in every recession throughout history. Location too affects risk. If you can choose an area where the property prices have historically grown or remained relatively stable, then risk is further reduced.
American Life − a property based Regional Center
Here are some reasons why it is the most popular EB-5 fund manager −
- We are the longest established Regional Center management company, founded in 1996.
- Almost half our investors are US citizens who have no need of a visa and who invest on the same terms and share the same investments as immigrant investors. No other Regional Center attracts US citizens as investors.
- Our investments are freehold commercial properties with zero debt in a location of long term stability.
- We have the best record of income and capital growth of any Regional Center.
- We attract more immigrant investors than any other Regional Center.
- Income on cash is paid to investors, usually monthly.
- Rental income of approximately 5 per cent, net of management charge, is paid to investors monthly.
- Our projects have a 100 per cent success record with both EB-5 visa processing and 'Conditions' Removal, some two years after emigrating.
- We have a sales team in Seattle to sell your shares, once visa conditions have been removed, or at any other time.
- You may sell your shares and exit whenever you wish. If your circumstances change and you abandon your visa application, you are not contracted to American Life for any period. Most Regional Centers tie you in for five or six years.
Program Summary
A Green Card and Permanent Residency gives the holder, and his or her immediate family, the right to live, study and work anywhere in the US. There are many visa categories. Some allow you to apply for a green card after you have been in the USA for a specific period, but most do not. The EB-5 visa is unusual in that it provides you with a green card at the outset.
Work, study, or retire, the choice is yours
The current legislation enables EB-5 Regional Center investors to retire to the USA and provides families with immigration security, eliminating the worry of reapplying and the risk of changes to immigration rules, as with most other visa categories. It is the only visa which allows retirement to the US. It also provides the flexibility to live anywhere, study or take any job, own and operate any business, and to change employment or career without restrictions.
Equal visa status for every member of your family.
When you emigrate, you do so knowing that you and your immediate family have Permanent Residency. For immigration purposes, ‘immediate family’ is defined as the investor, the investor’s spouse, and all their unmarried children under the age of 21 at the time of the visa application. That is, if the EB-5 application is filed before the child is 21 – even though he or she turns 21 during the process – your child is eligible for the EB-5 visa.
Your children may attend schools or apply to universities with the same rights as a US citizen. As long as they remain in the US, their rights do not end after they turn 21. Each member of the family may apply for citizenship after holding their green card for five years. Your children will have the advantage of job opportunities in the US and in your own country.
Funds for investment
Funds may come from any legal foreign or US source; including gifts, loans, executive pension funds (SIPPS), trusts and divorce settlements. Whoever receives the visa must make the investment. Borrowed investment funds qualify as long as they are not secured by the assets of the EB-5 investment.
Pilot Program
The 2003 Regional Center investment legislation was introduced as a Pilot Program, and has been extended through September 2012.
Job Creation
All our Regional Centers are certified as high unemployment areas which keeps the minimum required EB-5 investment capital to $500,000.
Direct employment is generated in each of our projects. Also, before making properties available to EB-5 investors, American Life uses an economist to quantify sufficient indirect employment, using the ‘Job Multiplier’ formula in accordance with practices accepted by the USCIS. Our 100% record of conditions removal since 1996 attests to our successful job creation.
Direct employment is sometimes promoted as being better than indirect employment. This is not so. Using the direct employment method, job creation calculations are done when conditions are being removed (some 2 years after you emigrate). If the Regional Center which uses direct employment has failed to secure enough jobs at that time, it would result in the denial of your visa.
American Life Inc.
American Life is a commercial property development and management company offering ‘EB-5 qualifying’ investments in prime commercial real estate. Established initially in Seattle, it now manages or jointly manages ten Regional Centers across five states: Georgia, California, Florida, New York and Washington. We have over $500 million invested, of which $300 million is from immigrant investors.
Almost half the company’s investors are non-immigrants, born and bred US citizens who have no need of a green card. We have been buying, developing and managing commercial property for over a decade. Our successful business model is highly regarded and appeals not only to resident Americans, but also corporate investors, including institutional investors such as pension funds. We offer a safe, income bearing investment which has provided US Residency for over 700 immigrants from across the globe.
We have an active resale facility. Investors may sell at anytime. Unlike most Regional Centers which require a minimum of five or six years, our EB-5 applicants may sell as soon as Conditions have been removed, usually a little over 3 years. (NB: Recently, the USCIS has decreed that, within certain new Regional Centers, EB-5 investments must be held for no less than five years.) Should they decide not to emigrate, American Life investors may sell at any time.
In the event of a visa denial, the company will return your $500,000. For full details see a Subscription Agreement which is contained in every investment prospectus.
We work alongside a number of specialist EB-5 immigration attorneys and economists, specialists in job creation methodologies. Our collective Regional Center expertise has been a major factor in maintaining a 100 per cent success record in securing green cards.
American Life UK office
American Life is the only Regional Center to have offices outside the USA. In Europe, investor relations are managed by Taroa Investment Company Limited, an international property investment company, providing advice to English-speaking communities on the EB-5 visa and current American Life property investments.
Richard Robinson is available to ensure everyone is fully informed and looked after at each stage of the investment and immigration process. If you have any questions, please contact Richard on +44 (0)20 7408 9450 or e-mail richard@eb5-visa.net.
EB-5 Visa − The Investment Green Card
The USCIS (the US Citizenship and Immigration Service) refers to this category as an Investment or Employment-based Green Card since it is based on an investment in a US business which will create at least ten US jobs.
The EB-5 Visa approves your green card before you emigrate. The legislation does not require you to manage the day-to-day affairs of a business; you may invest in an existing or a new business; more than one person may invest and you may be a minority owner. You may live anywhere in the US no matter where the investment is made and are free to do whatever you wish, be it study, work, run a business or retire.
An EB-5 visa has three different forms −
- Invest $1,000,000 into a business and hire ten employees anywhere in the USA, or
- Invest $500,000 and hire ten employees in an area where the unemployment rate is 150% of the national average or the rural population is less than 20,000, or
- Invest $500,000 into a Government designated Regional Center and avoid direct employment.
Over 90 percent of EB-5 applicants invest in a Regional Center.
EB-5 visa and the 2003 Legislation
The EB-5 Regional Center program was suspended in 1998 as a result of fraud and, it might be argued, insufficient policing by the immigration authority at that time.
The program was reintroduced in December 2003. It is now supervised by the USCIS which applies a stringent assessment of all immigration applicants and their sources of capital. This Pilot Program, through strong bipartisan support in Congress, has been extended until September 2012.
Decision-making Process
Costs
- In addition to the minimum capital contribution of $500,000, American Life requires a fee of $30,000.
- Legal fees vary according to the work involved but are unlikely to exceed $15,000.
- The EB5 visa filing fee, payable to the USCI|S, is $1,435 per applicant family.
- The fee to the NVC (National Visa Center) is $380 per family member.
- Medical examinations are $200 for each adult and $150 for children under 15.
The total fees for a family of two adults and a child under 15 will total approximately $48,000.
Taroa Investment Company, as an agent of American Life Inc., does not charge a fee.
Timescale
Green card. After you have invested and your attorney has submitted your visa application, green card processing takes approximately 6 months. Processing times vary and we advise that, for planning important issues such as children’s schooling, it is best to allow 9-12 months between visa application and the issue of your green card. This green card is 'conditional', see Permanent Residency below.
Permanent residency. Once you have emigrated, you must apply to have ‘conditions’ removed from your green card after 1 year and 9 months in the USA. Processing takes up to six months. ‘Conditions’ removal means that all family members have permanent residency and your visa is no longer tied to your investment.
The investment. The minimum period for an American Life EB-5 investment is approximately three years. This is the time between making the investment and 'conditions' removal (permanent residency). Once conditions are removed you are free to sell your investment if you wish.
Citizenship. EB-5 visa investors who have held a green card for 5 years are eligible to apply for US citizenship.
Steps before investing −
- In order to receive a prospectus for an American Life EB-5 investment, it is an FSA (Financial Services Authority) requirement that you qualify as an eligible investor. You may certify on this website. To view the Certification forms along with explanatory notes, please click here.
- Contact Richard Robinson in London on (020) 7408 9450 with any other questions you may have or to arrange a meeting. Meetings are informal question and answer discussions where you can discover more about the company's properties as well as information on the EB-5 and other visa categories. Meetings are free of charge.
- Treat this as you would any other significant investment. Seek professional investment advice.
- Review our list of frequently asked questions.
- Talk to other EB-5 visa applicants who have secured green cards and read our Client Testimonials. Contact details may be requested or will be available when we meet.
- Consider a trip to Seattle to visit the Regional Center, see the properties and meet our tenants and staff.
- Your visa application may not be submitted until your investment is fully funded. If you wish to emigrate as soon as possible, fund the $530,000 to enable your green card visa petition to be prepared and submitted. If you wish to secure your place as an EB-5 investor in a specific property you may do so with a deposit of $50,000. This will secure your place for up to 90 days, by which time you must fund the balance.
