A US green card is a dream for many individuals around the world. After getting a green card, one is granted a permanent residency in the United States, allowing individuals to live and work in the country for a lifetime. Obtaining a green card opens up numerous opportunities for education, employment, and a better quality of life.
Many Indians dream of living in the USA after getting US citizenship because they believe it offers better opportunities for career growth, higher standards of living, and access to advanced education and healthcare systems.
Although obtaining a green card is a time-consuming process, there are alternative choices that lead to a significantly shorter path to becoming a permanent resident of the United States. The EB-5 Visa Program is one such popular and faster route to obtain a green card.
In an exclusive interview with Financial Express Online, Carel van der Merwe, Director of Sales at EB5 Coast To Coast provides an overview of the EB-5 Visa Program and typically, who are the individuals choosing to go the EB-5 visa way.
Can you provide an overview of the EB-5 program for those who may not be familiar with it?
The EB-5 program is a United States immigration initiative that offers a pathway to lawful permanent residency (green card) for foreign investors who are willing to make an investment in the country’s economy, creating jobs for U.S. workers. Established in 1990, the EB-5 program is designed to stimulate the U.S. economy by attracting foreign capital and fostering job creation.
To qualify for the EB-5 program, an investor is required to make a minimum capital investment of $800,000 in a target employment area. A target employment area (TEA) is either a rural area or an area with high unemployment. The investor’s capital must be “at risk” and directly lead to the creation or preservation of at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years of the investor’s admission as a conditional permanent resident.
The EB-5 program offers investors and their immediate family members (spouse and unmarried children under 21) the opportunity to obtain conditional green cards. After a conditional period of two years, during which the investment and job creation requirements must be maintained; investors can apply to have the conditions removed from their green cards, granting them permanent residency in the United States.
How do you see the future of the EB-5 program evolving, and what opportunities or challenges do you anticipate?
The Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 has stimulated the EB-5 program in India which had slumped due to lengthy processing delays for applicants. The new law created set-aside visa categories for rural and high-unemployment TEA projects that effectively allowed new investors to avoid any delays at the visa processing stage by investing in these new categories. In addition, there are new integrity measures in the law that provide investor safeguards which has made it a safer program.
We believe that the interest will continue to pick up for EB-5 as new markets are developed. Some markets may mature as they start to face backlogs once they become oversubscribed.
What types of clients typically seek EB-5 investments, and what motivates them to do so?
The biggest market for EB-5 currently is in the US. These are mostly Indians who are in the US as temporary workers on an H1-B visa. The waiting period for a green card for an Indian H1-B is very lengthy, so many of them opt for an EB-5 to give them the freedom to move their jobs or start their own business. These clients are typically quite familiar with the US immigration system and do thorough due diligence before deciding to invest.
The market in India would typically be someone who has a child studying in the US. They are looking to do EB-5 in order to move the family to the US or to sponsor their child so that they can remain in the US once their studies are complete.
What should investors do to ensure the process to get a green card gets expedited?
We have focussed on bringing projects to market that qualify investors for expedited processing. In order to qualify, the investments need to be in the national interest. This is a significant benefit since normal processing times can take several years to get your green card. An expedited process can result in a petitioner getting his green card in a year or less.
We have focussed on addiction treatment facilities that meet the immigration agency’s definition of national interest due to the opioid crises in America. EB5 Coast to Coast has funded 8 addiction treatment centres to date with EB-5 capital and all the investors were approved for expedited processing.
We spend a lot of time educating clients on calls. We also provide them with literature to guide them. If the client is in the US, we encourage them to visit the projects they are interested in. If the client is working with an agent, the agent will provide a lot of guidance. The client’s immigration attorney will be able to give them advice on the immigration aspect of the EB-5 process.
