第 7 步：提交 I-829 申请

Ninety (90) days prior to the expiry of their conditional green card, investors, with the help of their attorney, must file Form I-829, “Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status.” Approval of this petition removes the conditions on their green card, and grants them permanent resident status. Generally, through form I-829, the applicant must prove that the funds invested in the New Commercial Enterprise (NCE) were spent according to the meticulous business plan submitted with the I-526/526E petition and also prove the investment has led to the creation and maintenance of at least ten jobs.

Upon filing the I-829, the USCIS will issue a receipt – called form I-797 – to the investor, which extends the investor’s conditional residency for another two years in order to bridge their conditional and permanent residency. Once the I-829 is approved, the Permanent Green Card will be issued by USCIS to the investor’s address on file shortly after. This process generally takes less than 6 weeks. Once the physical green cards are in your hands, your immigration process is successful and complete! You now only need to achieve repayment of your investment to complete the EB-5 process.

Congress has advised that USCIS should process I-829 petitions within ninety (90) days of receipt, although this generally does not occur. In recent years, the approval of I-829 petitions has slowed dramatically, meaning that the form I-797 which extends conditional residence may expire before an I-829 is adjudicated.

If this form expires while an I-829 is still pending, investors can file for an I-551 stamp on their passport, which extends conditional residency by another year. From this point, investors can continue to extend their conditional residency year by year until the I-829 is approved.

During extended conditional residency, investors will continue to enjoy the same benefits of a lawful permanent resident. Even if their project is left incomplete, investors may still receive their permanent green card, provided all the EB-5 requirements have been met. As long as the at-risk investment was maintained throughout the conditional residency period, jobs were created, and the money invested was spent according to the previously filed business plan, AND the funds used to invest were proven lawful, the investor will still be eligible for approval of the I-829 petition and receipt of green card.

Post I-829 Approval

After the I-829 is approved, the Permanent Green Card will be issued shortly after. At this point, the EB-5 immigration process is completed. The USCIS will issue permanent green cards to the investor and their eligible dependents. Furthermore, after 4 years and 9 months of LPR status (starting from the conditional residency period of two years), investors will be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship.

Return of Investment

We have added this section to this page because many immigrant investors go into the process expecting they will be repaid after their immigration process is concluded. However it is important to note that in EB-5 the immigration and investment process is separate. The immigrant investor is eligible to be repaid even before the I-829 is approved, or in certain cases even before the petition is filed. 

We recommend reading the resources under the investment process section to get a better understanding of this matter.