INVESTMENT IMMIGRATION/EMPLOYMENT-BASED IMMIGRATION

INVESTMENT IMMIGRATION

Multinational Executives and Managers (EB1C):

An alien can apply for permanent residence if the alien has worked at least one year by a legal entity outside the U.S. and seeks admission in order to work for the same employer (or its subsidiary or affiliate) in a managerial or executive capacity. The year of employment outside the U.S. must be within three years of the alien’s application.

There are five major points in this category:

1. The Foreign employer company and the U.S. prospective employer company must have one of the following relationships: (a) same entity; (b) affiliate relationship; or (c) subsidiary. Affiliate means both foreign company and U.S. company are owned and controlled by the same parent or individual. Subsidiary means the foreign company, directly or indirectly, owns and controls more than half of the U.S. company.
2. The alien has worked the for foreign company at least one year before applying for admission into the U.S.;
3. Foreign company is still operating abroad;
4. The prospective U.S. Company has been doing business for at least one year; and
5. The alien will take a managerial or executive position with the U.S. company. Executive position means the alien will be responsible primarily for directing the management of the company or a component or a function of the company, establishing goals and policies, exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision making and receiving only general supervision or direction from higher level executives, board of directors or stockholders. Managerial position means the alien personally manages the organization, department, function, or component; supervises and controls the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees; has authority to hire and fire employees; or exercises discretion over day-to-day operations of the company.

INVESTMENT IMMIGRATION (EB5): 

This investment can help an alien get permanent residence in the U.S. directly: first conditional permanent residence, then permanent residence after two years. To qualify as an EB5 investment, the alien must first establish a new commercial enterprise. The includes (1) creating an original business, (2) purchasing an existing business and then restructuring or reorganizing it either immediately or afterwards so that a new commercial enterprise results, or (3) expanding an existing business by 140 percent of the pre-investment number of jobs or net worth, or retaining all existing jobs in a troubled business. Troubled business means that a business has lost 20 percent of its net worth over the past 12 to 24 months.

The alien needs to invest at least $1,000,000. But there are several exceptions which allow you to invest only $500,000: (1) Rural areas, defined as any area other than one within a metropolitan statistical area or within the boundary of a city or town with a population of 20,000 or more; or (2) areas having an unemployment rate that is at least 150% of the national average. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has designated certain areas throughout the United States as Regional Centers.

Then the alien needs to create full-time employment at least 10 qualified individuals (creating an employer-employee relationship). But, with troubled businesses (as described above), the alien needs to maintain the number of existing employees at no less than the pre-investment level for at least two years. With respect to a Regional Center, indirect employment creation can be included.

10,000 visas are available for this kind of visa of which 3,000 are reserved for investors in a targeted rural or high-unemployment area and 3,000 (minimum) set aside for investors in regional centers.

Once the alien meets the requirements, the alien will receive conditional permanent residence. The alien must file a petition to remove the conditional 90-day period before the second anniversary of the alien’s lawful admission as a permanent resident. USCIS will examine the business at the end of the two year period to determine whether or not the alien has complied with all of the requirements.

Employment Immigration:

Many aliens obtain their permanent resident status from employment. There are two sub-categories:

1. Employer-dependent route: including Outstanding researcher/professor, Multinational Executive/Manager, Permanent Labor Certification; and
2. Employer-independent route: Extraordinary Ability and National Interest Waiver. An alien’s job change affects the first category but not the second category.

Extraordinary Ability, Outstanding researcher/professor, and Multinational Executive/Manager have much stricter requirements to meet but usually don’t have a long wait time to obtain permanent resident status. Conversely, Permanent Labor Certification has easier requirements but usually takes a long time for aliens to obtain permanent resident status.