选择 EB-5 区域中心项目

To obtain an EB-5 visa, investors must be able to prove to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services (USCIS) funds have been invested and properly spent in a project that has created and maintained at least ten full-time jobs. As the administrator of the program, the USCIS’s primary role is to assess and confirm whether a project offering meets the program’s requirements and whether an investor qualifies for immigration benefits. USCIS does not confer judgment on the value or risk of the investment. For all regional center (RC) projects, the USCIS reviews the business plan, economic impact reports, and other documentation but does not conduct due diligence from an investment standpoint.

Investing in an RC offering is a passive investment in a majority of cases; most investors will have limited partners’ rights and no role in managing their project after investing. This convenience is welcomed by the majority of EB-5 investors who do not want to manage any business, but leaves them with little recourse if the project fails or stalls. Therefore, it is in the  investors’ interest to vet their project extensively prior to investing to ensure the offering is structured to (1) comply with key EB-5 requirements, and (2) return their funds at the end of the investment period.

To conduct proper project due diligence, many investors choose to work with intermediaries local to their home countries who speak their language and have the experience and knowledge of selecting projects or work with U.S. based FINRA licensed EB-5 investment specialists.

Investment in any private offering is highly risky and illiquid and hence available only to accredited investors as defined under the U.S. Securities Laws. Prospective investors should be prepared to see that the project subscription documents (Private Placement Memorandum, Subscription Agreement and Operating Agreement (in case of a Limited Liability Company) or Partnership Agreement (in case of a Limited Partnership) will contain a section dedicated to disclosure of risks associated with the offering. This is a crucial part of any EB-5 deal required by EB-5 and SEC regulations. Hence, no matter how well the project was marketed to you or even how conservative its structure is, beware that the list of risks will usually be overly extensive and an investor will have to agree and acknowledge to all the fine print disclosures, disclaimers and waivers, challenging the investor’s potential legal recourse in the event that the investment is not refunded.

No matter how well the project was marketed to you or even how conservative its structure is, beware that the list of risks will usually be extensive and an investor will have to agree to all the fine print disclosures, disclaimers, and waivers, which limit the investor’s potential legal recourse if the investment is not refunded.