What is the key to fulfilling EB-5 job creation requirements and why is it important?

To receive I-829 Petition approval from USCIS and to have the conditions removed from his or her green card, an EB-5 investor must prove that their investment fulfilled the EB-5 job creation requirements.

EB-5 Program requires each investor to create 10 full-time jobs for qualified U.S. workers.  What are qualified jobs?

A qualified full-time worker is an employee who works at least 35 hours per week. These jobs can be indirect or direct jobs, but they cannot be fulfilled by multiple part-time workers. However, in high-turnover industries like tourism and construction, multiple people can fill the position and it will still be considered full-time as long as the position is permanent.  

How long do investors have to prove job creation?

An EB-5 investor has two years from the date that they received conditional residency to prove job creation. Typically, USCIS considers jobs created within the first year of the two-year period to be created within a reasonable amount of time.

Once created, how long do jobs have to last?

USCIS expects the jobs that were created by the EB-5 investment to last 2 years. These jobs are then considered permanent and may be counted at the I-526 stage as well as at the I-829 stage.

Do investors have to prove that the jobs still exist at the I-829 Petition stage?

Investors only need to show that their commercial enterprise (the project) created the 10 jobs and that they were intended to be permanent positions.

What evidence can an EB-5 investor submit to USCIS to prove job creation?

It's the burden of the investor to submit evidence showing that 10 jobs were created.  Investors can provide quarterly tax returns, payroll documents, Employment Eligibility Verification documents, W-2 forms, economic analysis reports, or financial records, depending on the job creation methodologies used.

How are jobs allocated to investors?

It's important for investors to find out how jobs are allocated. They could be allocated based on when their I-829 petition was filed or approved or they could be allocated based off some other factor. Finding this out is important because an investor who was the last to join a project may be at a higher risk of not fulfilling their job creation requirements if there is no job creation buffer and there are no jobs left to allocate.

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