EB-5 immigrant investor visa

The EB-5 visa is a direct program for obtaining a U.S. Green Card. It is the most popular, safest, and clearest roadmap program. EB-5 does not require qualifications, foreign languages, or work experience. EB-5 also does not require you to have relatives or a company in the U.S. to sponsor.

The E-2 visa is a temporary residency visa for citizens of countries that have signed a trade agreement with the U.S. Currently, Vietnam is not in the group of countries that have signed this special trade agreement. Therefore, to get an E-2 visa, Vietnamese investors will need to obtain citizenship from a country that has an agreement first, such as Grenada, Turkey, or Portugal.

The L-1A visa is a U.S. residency program for entrepreneurs/senior managers of a foreign company, coming to the U.S. to manage a subsidiary. The spouse and children under 21 of the applicant will be granted visas to accompany. This is a difficult program to get a Green Card, the success rate has not reached 50%.

Currently, U.S. EB-5 residency is the clearest and safest path to obtaining a Green Card.

The process of applying for a U.S. EB5 visa usually goes through 7 steps:

• Step 1: Choose a consulting unit, EB-5 project, and lawyer to preliminarily evaluate the profile
• Step 2: Transfer investment to the Escrow account as regulated by the U.S. Immigration Department
• Step 3: The lawyer submits the immigration application (Form I-256)
• Step 4: The U.S. Immigration Department reviews and approves
• Step 5: The application is transferred to the U.S. National Visa Center (NVC)
• Step 6: The application is transferred to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi or the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City
• Step 7: Participate in the interview
• Step 8: The U.S. Embassy/U.S. Consulate General grants visas to the entire family
• Step 9: Receive a conditional Green Card (2-year Green Card)
• Step 10: Convert to a permanent Green Card (10-year Green Card)

The parties accompanying EB-5 investors include:

EB-5 Consulting Unit

The EB-5 consulting unit helps you choose and connect with lawyers, regional centers, prepare proof of money source files, and work with parties to ensure the entire U.S. EB-5 residency process goes smoothly.

Immigration Lawyer

The immigration lawyer helps you explain related issues and ensures you comply with immigration regulations. Because the EB-5 process includes many interwoven steps, choosing an experienced, reputable, deeply knowledgeable lawyer is an extremely important decision.

Regional Center and Investment Unit

The EB-5 Regional Center is an organization designated by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (USCIS) to sponsor capital investment projects for investment by EB-5 investors. The Regional Center will manage your investment throughout the EB-5 process. Meanwhile, the investor is the party directly implementing your investment.

If you choose direct U.S. EB-5 residency, you will not work with the Regional Center.

TEA is an abbreviation for Targeted Employment Area, defined by the U.S. government as an area with a high unemployment rate or a rural area. When choosing to invest EB-5 in TEA project, investors need to invest 800,000 USD.

According to the U.S. EB-5 residency investment law, the investment must have risks. Therefore, the investment in the Regional Center will not have any guarantees. But investors can minimize risks by choosing reputable Regional Centers and investors with a lot of capital return history for investors.

For any U.S. EB-5 residency investment project, you need to carefully consider the following 5 criteria:

• Number of jobs created;
• Capital structure;
• Project location;
• Project readiness;
• Capital exit strategy.

If the project meets all of the above factors, the success rate of the application will be very high.

The more objective and specific the documents are, the easier it will be to prove the legality of the funds to the U.S. Immigration Department. Investors need to provide documents related to income from:

• Salary.
• Employment contract.
• Personal income tax declaration and copies of bank deposit statements …

The risks associated with EB-5 investment include:

• No guarantee from the U.S. government for EB-5 investors
• Form I-526 is denied
• Risk that the project does not create enough required jobs

The waiting time for application approval and receipt of a 2-year Green Card is currently about 5 years; and the waiting time to get a permanent Green Card is about 8 years.

The EB-5 program allows children under 21 years old to accompany the application. The age of the children accompanying the application will be locked (blocked) at the time of submitting Form I-526. This means that the age of the children is not added during the waiting time for the I-526 result.

No, your family does not need to live near the project area.

The U.S. does not have regulations on residency time. However, according to many immigration experts, investors and their families should not leave the U.S. for more than 6 months in a year. If you leave the U.S. for too long (over 6 months), when you return to the U.S., you will be questioned and easily reported that you do not intend to maintain permanent residency, and risk losing the right to keep the Green Card.

If you cannot reside in the U.S. as required above, investors should apply for a re-entry permit (Re-entry Permit) if you need to travel multiple times between the U.S. and Vietnam.