Invest $800,000 And
Get A Green Card
For You And Your Family

An EB-5 visa is a US immigrant visa (meaning US permanent residency). Another name for a permanent residency visa is a “Green Card”. Green Cards are issued primarily through a lottery, Family-Based relationships, or an Employment-Based sponsorship. EB-5 stands for Employment-Based 5th Category Visa and is an immigration by investment program which leads to US job creation or “Employment”.

An EB-5 petitioner is an individual investor. Investors’ spouses and unwed children under 21 can also obtain a Green Card through the same investment. Minors are allowed to apply.

Immigrant investor programs are programs designed to attract foreign capital and businesspeople by providing the right to residence and citizenship in return. The United States remains one of the most attractive countries to immigrate to and the EB-5 Regional Center program is highly favored amongst foreign nationals looking to move to the United States. If you're on a H-1B/F-1/L-1A or any other non-immigrant type visa, obtaining a Green Card via the EB-5 program is the best way to secure you and your family’s future in the United States. Even though you may have an EB-2/3 petition pending, the current wait times are long and can often result in you not being able to obtain a Green Card. Obtaining a Green Card also removes the threat of constant non-immigrant visa renewals every three years and greatly lowers the risk of having to leave the country if there is a change with your visa program, job, or personal life in any way. Using EB-5 to speed up the Green Card process is especially important for individuals on H-1B status who must continuously extend their status and contend with limited career flexibility.

Each investor must invest $800,000 (if investing in a Targeted Employment Area “TEA”) or $1.05 million in a non-TEA project and create 10 US jobs. The initial EB-5 Green Card is conditional and temporary. At the end of a 2-year conditional residency period, the investor must show that the investment was maintained and at least 10 jobs were created for the Green Card to become permanent.

Proper documentation of source of funds is critical, and funds required for the investment may include, but are not limited to:

• Accumulation of salary
• Earnings from business ownership
• Proceeds from sale/mortgage of real estate property
• Gift
• Inheritance

You can utilize loans and it is best practice loans be secured by an asset. Funds can be sourced from anywhere in the world if they legally belong to the investor.

The EB-5 Regional Center program was created in 1993 to allow multiple investors to pool their capital for enhanced economic impact within a defined geographic area. This also allowed EB-5 investors to make a passive investment with Regional Centers and issuers who had knowledge and expertise in EB-5.

The goal of a typical EB-5 investor is to obtain a Green Card and receive their investment principal back. Well-structured EB-5 offerings have a structured exit strategy in which the EB-5 investors are repaid in-full plus interest. The capital must remain invested or “at-risk” until the investor has completed their Conditional Residency, if they fail to do so their Green Card will not become permanent. Even though EB-5 investments need to be “at-risk” that does not mean that the investment needs to be inherently “risky”.

EB-5 projects assume many different business models and operate within many different industries. Types of EB-5 projects include:

• Mixed-use retail
• Hotels
• Sports stadiums
• Restaurants
• Agricultural developments, including wineries and farms
• Electric vehicle manufacturing
• Manufacturing
• Biotech and medical technologies
• Casinos
• Entertainment venues
• Convention centers
• Office buildings

Most EB-5 investments tend to include real estate development as job creation as it is easiest to create jobs with construction.
New Commercial Enterprise: The New Commercial Enterprise (NCE) is the entity created into which the EB-5 investors invest. The NCE Manager is the issuer of the security and manages the New Commercial Enterprise into which the investors invest. The invested capital is then deployed as a loan or as equity to the Job Creating Entity.
Job Creating Entity (JCE): This is the project entity where the jobs will be created. In a typical EB-5 project each EB-5 investor buys one share of the NCE. From there the investors’ money is pooled together and either loaned or invested in the form of equity into the EB-5 project. The remaining amount required to complete the project may come from a developer, bank loan, grant, investment fund, or any other source of capital.
A “Loan” model project is a project in which the NCE makes a loan to the project. Each project will have a coupon rate and loan term/maturity date. The coupon rate is paid throughout the loan term beginning on the loan start date. A typical EB-5 project will have a loan term of 5 to 7 years.
An “Equity” model project is a project in which the NCE makes a Preferred, Pari Passu, or any other form of Equity investment into the project. Equity projects generally have more risk but can potentially earn the investor a higher return if the business is successful. In a pure equity investment, there is no maturity date to payback the investor, but rather the investor shares in the project’s cash flows, and the return of capital is dependent upon the sale or refinance of the project.

Senior Lender: The Senior Lender is first in line to be paid back, they hold the first position or right to foreclose on the property if there is a default on the loan agreement. This means in the event of a project failure; the first position lender can take over ownership of the development property and liquidate to recover its money. This is often a bank but sometimes is the EB-5 fund.
Secondary or Mezzanine Lender: The Secondary or Mezzanine Lender holds second position and therefore is second in line to be paid back, the Senior Lender will be paid back in full prior to the second lender recovering any money. Most EB-5 project loans are secured in second position, so it is important to know the size of the senior loan.
Preferred Equity Position: Preferred Equity investors will receive profits from the project until their preferred return is paid. This also means that return is dependent on the project returning a profit unlike a loan where interest is earned when funds are lent to the developer. You also are relying on the NCE liquidating through a sale or refinance to recover your investment, and there may not an investment maturity date. There are many ways to structure Preferred Equity offerings, please review the offering documents for each individual project to obtain the true structure of the investment.
Pari Passu Equity Position: Pari Passu Equity is a profit sharing split between the NCE Manager and/or developer and the investor. This can be the riskiest portion of the capital stack as you are relying on profits to pay the return. Under this structure you are generally relying on a sale of your share of the NCE to recover your investment. Where your money is in the capital stack will decide the risk and return profile of your investment. Other primary aspects to consider are the current value of the asset during construction, how far along construction is, and the likelihood of construction completion.

An EB-5 investor must invest the required amount of capital in a new commercial enterprise that will create full-time positions for at least 10 qualifying employees.

• For a new commercial enterprise located within a Regional Center, the new commercial enterprise can directly or indirectly create the full-time positions.
• Direct jobs establish an employer-employee relationship between the new commercial enterprise and the persons it employs.
• Indirect jobs are held outside of the new commercial enterprise but are created because of the new commercial enterprise.

Rather than count 10 hired employees, the USCIS allows Regional Centers to use multiple economic impact formulas to connect money spent on a project with the number of jobs created. This means if the money is spent on the project as specified the jobs are created and are permanent.

A TEA can be, at the time of investment, either:

• A rural area; or
• An area that has high unemployment (defined as at least 150% of the national average unemployment rate).

A rural area is any area other than an area within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) (as designated by the Office of Management and Budget) or within the outer boundary of any city or town having a population of 20,000 or less??? according to the most recent decennial census of the United States.
A high-unemployment area may be any of the following areas

• An MSA;
• A specific county in an MSA;
• A county in which a city or town with a population of 20,000 or more is located; or
• A city or town with a population of 20,000 or more outside of an MSA.

A high-unemployment area may also consist of the census tract or contiguous census tracts in which the new commercial enterprise is principally doing business. This may include any or all directly adjacent census tracts, if the weighted average unemployment for the specified area based on the labor force employment measure for each tract is 150% of the national unemployment average.
Source: USCIS

YDY CAPITAL works with well capitalized developers to structure high-quality EB-5 investment products for foreign investors. YDY CAPITAL’s goal is to ensure its qualifying EB-5 investment products provide more than enough of the requisite jobs for all investors. The use of investor protections and industry best-practices provide YDY CAPITAL investors with peace-of-mind. YDY CAPITAL’s principals have helped over 1000+ investors obtain more than 2,000 Green Cards for family members with a 100% I-526 and I-829 approval rate.