[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]The Employment based fifth preference (EB-5) program is the worlds most popular immigrant investor programs for rich foreign nationals who pursue American dream.
EB-5 requires a minimum investment of $500,000 and most importantly must create jobs. Despite its popularity, the biggest problem with EB-5 is backlogs and long waiting times since filing the I-526 petition.
The EB-5 immigrant investor category has subdivisions of:
- C5 – Direct investment outside of a Targeted Employment Area (TEA) (min. $1 million investment required);
- T5 – Direct investment inside of the TEA (min. $500,000 investment required);
- R5 – Regional center investment under the Investor Pilot Program not in a TEA (min. $1 million investment required);
- I5 – Regional center investment under the Investor Pilot Program in a TEA (min. $500,000 investment required).
EB-5 Quota Limits
Each year. 7.1% (of 140,000 immigrant visas) of that is reserved for the EB-5 category – and no less than 3,000 of these are reserved for investors in a TEA and another 3,000 are set aside for investors investing through the regional centers. A total of 10,000 EB-5 visas allotted every year including visas for family members.
EB-5 Waiting
Chinese have longest wait times for the EB-5 program, as of Oct 2018 followed by vietnamese.
The below times shows number of years between the time an I-526 petition is filed today (October 30, 2018) and the time when an EB-5 visa is likely to be available
China: 14 years
Vietnam: 7.2 years
India: 5.7 years
South Korea: 2.2 years
Taiwan: 1.7 years
Brazil: 1.5 years
EB-5 vs Europe
EB-5 still is the cheapest golden visa scheme compared to european schemes such as Portugal and Spain. Greece is the cheapest and most affordable of all schemes.
- Portugal – EUR 500,000
- EB-5 – USD 500,000
- United Kingdom – GBP 2M
- Greece – EUR 250,000
- Spain – EUR 500,000
- Ireland – EUR 1M
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_line_chart x_values=”Country ” values=”%5B%7B%22title%22%3A%22China%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%2214%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22blue%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Vietnam%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%227.2%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22pink%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22India%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%225.4%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22green%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%23ebebeb%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22South%20Korea%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%222.2%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22orange%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%23ff9900%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Taiwan%20%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%221.7%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22sky%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%236dab3c%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Brazil%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%221.5%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22sandy-brown%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%2350485b%22%7D%5D” title=”EB-5 Wait Years”][vc_empty_space alter_height=”medium” hide_on_mobile=””][vc_line_chart x_values=”US dollars” values=”%5B%7B%22title%22%3A%22USA%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%22500000%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22blue%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Portugal%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%22570000%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22pink%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Greece%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%22290000%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22green%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%23ebebeb%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Spain%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%22575000%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22orange%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%23ff9900%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22Ireland%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%221135000%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22sky%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%2375d69c%22%7D%2C%7B%22title%22%3A%22UK%22%2C%22y_values%22%3A%222600000%22%2C%22color%22%3A%22vista-blue%22%2C%22custom_color%22%3A%22%236ab165%22%7D%5D” title=”EB5 and Europe”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
