The EB-5 Green Card is essentially aimed at providing a Green Card to any foreign investor that can provide jobs.  However, there are several requirements that need to be met before this can happen. These requirements consist of the following:

1. A minimum investment to qualify of $1,000,000 per immigrant investor or a reduced amount of $800,000 in cases where investments are made in “targeted employment areas,” defined as having an unemployment rate 150% of the current national average.

2. That investor funds be from legitimate, legal sources.

3. That investors invest in a new commercial enterprise which:

   • Is in operation for a certain period of time.

   • Can be expanded or restructured so that 40% more employees can be added to the existing enterprise.

4. Create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years (or under certain circumstances, within a reasonable time after the two-year period).  These jobs can be either direct or indirect jobs:

   • Direct jobs are jobs within the commercial enterprise into which the EB-5 investor has directly invested

   • Indirect jobs are jobs created as a result of the investment (for example, jobs created in other parts of the economy as a result of the EB-5 investment). Counting the indirect job creation can only be made if the investor chooses to work with a Regional Center, which is explained below.

There are 2 ways of making an investment with the EB-5 Program. The first, is a direct investment, where the investor creates his or her own business. The second, is investing through a “Regional Center.”