EB-5 Regional Center Investment

Regional center designation concerns the organization's participation in the statutory program and geographic/economic proposal.

It is not an endorsement of any securities offering or assurance of project success.

A regional center is an organization designated by USCIS to participate in the statutory Regional Center Program and sponsor qualifying pooled EB-5 activity within the current framework. Designation permits participation in the program but does not constitute a government endorsement of a particular securities offering, developer, business plan, or financial return. Investors should distinguish the regional center's status from approval of a specific project and from approval of an individual investor. Current compliance obligations also continue after designation, including required filings, integrity requirements, and USCIS oversight applicable to regional centers.

The RIA provides the current framework for qualified immigrant investors pooling their EB-5 capital.

Each individual investor still must independently satisfy investor eligibility requirements.

Under the post-RIA framework, investors who pool their EB-5 capital with other EB-5 investors generally do so through the Regional Center Program. Pooled investment does not eliminate individual eligibility requirements: each investor must still establish the required capital contribution, lawful source and path of funds, and personal eligibility. The pooled structure should identify the new commercial enterprise, the job-creating activity, the regional center relationship, and the offering terms. Investors should also understand how project financing, other sources of capital, distributions, and repayment provisions interact with the immigration requirements that apply to their individual petitions.

The project application provides USCIS with the offering, business plan, economic analysis, securities, project, and related evidence specified by current law and USCIS procedures.

The regional center files Form I-956F for each particular investment offering and capital investment project before investors file the associated Form I-526E petitions. USCIS has stated that an investor may file Form I-526E after the associated Form I-956F has been filed and does not need to wait for the project application to be approved first. The I-956F record addresses project-level matters such as the business plan, offering structure, capital investment project, economic methodology, job creation, securities and promoter information, and other required evidence. Material project developments should be tracked against that filing.

An investor may file Form I-526E after the associated Form I-956F has been filed; the investor need not wait for the I-956F to be approved before filing the I-526E.

Form I-526E is the individual immigrant petition for a regional center investor. The petition is connected to the associated Form I-956F, but project approval does not by itself establish the investor's personal eligibility. The investor must independently document the qualifying investment, lawful capital, path of funds, applicable reserved or unreserved classification, and other personal requirements. The filing should separate project-level evidence from investor-level evidence so USCIS can identify which facts derive from the regional center project record and which facts must be established by the individual investor and the investor's own financial documentation.

Current law generally permits indirect jobs to satisfy up to 90 percent of the investor's job creation requirement.

Special statutory rules apply to certain construction activity lasting less than two years.

Regional center investors may use qualifying direct and indirect job creation under the post-RIA statutory framework. USCIS has explained that indirect jobs generally may account for up to 90 percent of the required job creation, with special limitations for construction activity lasting less than two years. The economic report should use an accepted methodology and project inputs that can later be supported with actual evidence. At the I-829 stage, project expenditures, construction activity, revenues, or other approved inputs should be documented so the job calculation can be reproduced rather than relying only on the original projections.

• Regional center designation
• Form I-956F status
• Offering documents
• Economic report
• Business plan
• Capital stack
• Job cushion
• Exit and repayment terms
• Securities disclosures

Immigration eligibility and investment quality are separate questions. USCIS designation of a regional center or approval of a project filing does not guarantee that an investment is financially safe or that an individual petition will be approved. Immigration review should examine the Form I-956F status, business plan, economic report, job cushion, capital structure, and consistency of the offering with EB-5 requirements. Investment and securities diligence should separately evaluate the offering documents, conflicts, fees, developer and manager experience, financing, repayment assumptions, exit terms, and disclosures. An investor should understand both sets of risks before committing capital.