to any interim immigration benefits
while they wait for visa numbers,
and they must keep their capital
inves ted in the EB - 5 enterprise
throughout that wait and the two
years following their admission to
the U.S. We can expect investors
from those countries to be less
eager to tie up their capital for
such long waits for immigration
benefits, and to the ex tent they
are open to it, they might tend to
demand more return on capital
than EB-5 investors typically have
been afforded by mass issuers of
EB-5 qualified investments.
"EB-5 investors are not
entitled to any interim
immigration benefits
while they wait for visa
numbers, and they
must keep their capital
invested in the EB-5
enterprise throughout
that wait and the two
years following their
admission to the U.S."
One of the biggest implications
of a long wait for visa numbers is
the prospect that the project will be completed and the
developer will sell or refinance the project and repay
the loan or equity typically supplied by the investor’s
“new commercial enterprise” (NCE). USCIS now allows
this to happen as long as the necessar y jobs have
been created by that point, but it requires that the NCE
then “re-deploy” the investor’s capital at risk in some
other “commercial activity” at least until the investor
reaches the end of the two-year period of “conditional
residence.” USCIS has failed to
p rov id e c r i tic al c la r if ic a tio n of
the required parameters for this
“reinvestment,” such as whether
it needs to be in the same or any
regional center area, whether it
needs to be in the same or any
TE A , and whether it can involve
p u r c hasi n g ex is ti n g i n te re s t i n
assets rather than injec tion for
use in new job creation. Especially
i nve s to r s f a c i n g l e n g t hy wa i t s
for visa numbers must anticipate
t h i s p r o s p e c t of r e d e p l oy m e n t
and discuss carefully with
knowledgeable business and
legal advisors about the risks and
possible protections that may be
provided by the investment issuer.
CHILD “AGE OUTS” AND DELAYED
I-526 ADJUDICATION
Generally, a child can qualify to immigrate with an EB-5
investor only if the child is under 21. Under the Child
Status Protection Act (CSPA), however, the child’s age is
locked in as of the date when the later of two events
occurs: I-526 approval and availability of a visa number in
EB5INVESTORS.COM
9