Do not worry! We have simplified the EB-5 visa permanent residency process for you to understand the different stages and make an informed decision. These are various stages to the United States (US) EB-5 Visa Program:
1) To invest under the US EB-5 Investor Visa program, the immigrant investors are required to complete Initial Pre-Subscription Documentation with us after satisfying themselves with the US EB-5 process.
2) Parallelly, the immigrant investors are required to hire the services of a dedicated immigration attorney (we at TC Global will be happy to recommend a suitable law firm) to work on their Source of Funds (SOF) documents. Depending on the complexity of the documentation, this process roughly takes 3-6 weeks to get completed.
3) Once the SoF documentation is complete, the immigration attorney gives the client a go-ahead to wire the investment fund to an escrow account for the purpose of investment into a New Commercial Enterprise (NCE), which is primarily a high caliber real estate project primarily in New York, United States (US) within a Targeted Employment Area (TEA). After the transfer of the investment amount, the first petition, namely, I-526 petition is filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which is the federal agency that oversees lawful immigration to the US.
4) Post this step, the USCIS reviews the I-526 petition documents along with all the submitted proofs and arguments filed by the immigration attorney on behalf of the immigrant investor. The process of adjudication takes approximately 1 to 1.5 years before the I-526 petition is approved by USCIS.
5) Once the I-526 petition is approved by USCIS, the immigrant investor can go for Consular Processing (CP) or Adjustment of Status (AoS) depending on if he/she is in the home country or the US to get the passport stamped with the EB-5 Visa.
6) To pursue either one of these processes, the EB-5 visa waitlist status for the Investorās country needs to be current. At present there is no wait list for Indian immigrant investors. Please get in touch with our Investor Relations team for the most recent updates.
7) The EB-5 visa, once confirmed with a stamp on the investorās passport allows him/her and the family to stay in the US for two years on a Conditional Green Card (CGC).
8) Prior to the expiry of the Conditional Green Card, post the twenty-first month, the investor is required to file a second petition (I-829) with the USCIS through a law to have the conditions removed and request for a Permanent Green Card.
9) After the I-829 petition is filed with the USCIS, the CGC is extended till the time USCIS is adjudicating the petition. This process essentially takes between 1.5 to 2 years from the date of filing the petition. Once this is approved, the primary immigrant investor on CGC receives their lawful permanent resident status along with their family members comprising the spouse and any number of unmarried children under the age of 21.