An EB 5 regional center is an economic entity that promotes economic growth in a given region. It can be public, private, or a combination of both. It is regulated by USCIS and allows an EB-5 New Commercial Enterprise to pool the capital of many investors. USCIS does not endorse or terminate any EB-5 Regional Center. Read the following article to learn more about what an EB-5 Regional Center is and how it can help your community.
USCIS designates them for participation in the Immigrant Investor Program:
While there are over 792 USCIS-designated EB-5 Regional Centers, and more are being added regularly, the program is still limited. Individual investors can invest in one or more projects. Each investor must create at least ten new full-time jobs. The USCIS designates a regional center that meets the requirements. The regional centers can operate several projects at the same time.
They pool together capital investment of multiple investors for job-creating projects:
Under EB-5, the regional center pools the capital of several EB-5 investors to finance a large job-creating project. Such a project must create a minimum number of jobs per investor and be primarily located in the targeted employment area. The goal of a regional center is to promote economic growth and regional productivity while creating jobs. Most regional centers develop large, high-impact projects.
They are not terminated:
If the EB-5 Regional Center is not terminated, the direct EB-5 petitions will not impact the program. USCIS has terminated regional centers based on fraud or mismanagement of funds in the past. The latest amendments to the EB-5 program include provisions that protect EB-5 applicants from quota backlogs. If the Regional Center is terminated, the direct EB-5 petitions will hurt the program’s quota, but the backlog is insignificant.
They count all indirect, direct, and induced jobs created:
An EB-5 Regional Center counts all indirect, direct, and other induced jobs created by its investment activity. It is different from a direct job creation model because it allows the investor to use reasonable statistical and economic methodologies to determine the number of jobs created. Indirect jobs are those created outside the enterprise that receives the immigrant investor’s capital. Indirect jobs are created by other employers and not by the immigrant investor’s investment.
