EB-5 Source of Funds from Stocks and Securities

Brokerage statements, trade confirmations, account histories, share certificates, and custodian records can establish ownership.

Securities can be a lawful source of EB-5 capital when the investor establishes ownership of the account or assets and connects that ownership to the funds later invested. Brokerage statements, custodian records, account-opening materials, trade histories, share certificates, and transaction confirmations can show what the investor owned and when. Joint, trust, corporate, or nominee accounts may require additional evidence explaining the investor's legal interest and control. The objective is to demonstrate that the securities generating the investment proceeds genuinely belonged to the investor or were otherwise lawfully available to the investor under the applicable source-of-funds rules.

If salary, business income, gifts, or inheritance created the portfolio, the source record should explain that history as needed.

USCIS may examine how a substantial securities portfolio was originally acquired when that history is necessary to establish lawful source. The relevant evidence depends on the facts. Salary savings may be supported by employment and tax records; business income by company and distribution records; inherited assets by estate documents; and gifted funds by donor and transfer evidence. Post-RIA INA section 203(b)(5)(L) expressly requires lawful source and lawful means for investment capital and associated administrative fees. The filing should therefore trace far enough back to explain the legitimate origin of the assets without collecting unrelated financial history that adds no evidentiary value.

Trade confirmations and brokerage statements should show the securities sold and proceeds credited.

When securities are liquidated, the record should document the transaction that converted the assets into cash available for EB-5. Trade confirmations and brokerage statements can identify the securities sold, sale dates, quantities, prices, fees, and proceeds credited to the account. The subsequent bank or wire records should connect those proceeds to the investor's EB-5 transfer. If liquidation occurred through several transactions or accounts, a chronology can reconcile the amounts. Material differences caused by fees, exchange rates, or additional account activity should be explained so the path from the securities sale to the new commercial enterprise remains understandable.

The record should distinguish original contributions, gains, dividends, and other account activity where that distinction matters.

Lawfully earned appreciation, dividends, interest, and other investment gains can form part of the investor's capital when the investor lawfully owned the underlying assets and can document the resulting proceeds. The record should distinguish original contributions from market gains or distributions when that distinction helps explain the amount ultimately invested. Long-held portfolios may require several account statements rather than one closing statement to show continuity of ownership. Where gains are unusually large or the account history is incomplete, corroborating brokerage records, tax documents, or custodian statements can help establish that the increase resulted from legitimate investment activity rather than an unexplained deposit.

Tax statements and returns can corroborate the securities activity and lawful means.

Tax records can corroborate securities ownership, sales, dividends, interest, and reported gains, although the exact documents depend on the investor's jurisdiction and filing obligations. Post-RIA source-of-funds rules expressly identify tax records as relevant evidence and generally require applicable tax records for the statutory lookback period. The petition should reconcile material securities transactions with the tax evidence when such reporting was required. If no tax was due, a different reporting regime applied, or records are unavailable, the filing should explain that circumstance and provide other reliable evidence rather than leaving an apparent mismatch between the portfolio activity and the investor's financial history.

• Brokerage statements
• Trade confirmations
• Purchase history
• Tax records
• Dividend records
• Bank statements
• Wire confirmations
• NCE receipt

A securities-based source package should make the progression from ownership to liquidation to EB-5 investment easy to follow. Useful exhibits can include brokerage statements, purchase or transfer history, trade confirmations, dividend records, tax documents, bank statements, currency-exchange records, wire confirmations, and the new commercial enterprise's receipt of funds. A transaction table can identify dates, accounts, securities sold, gross proceeds, fees, net proceeds, and later transfers. The package should also identify any other persons who transferred funds into the United States on the investor's behalf when the post-RIA statutory disclosure requirement applies.