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Unlike the Regional Center model, one benefit of
the EB-5 direct investment program is that there is
no sunset date for it. Since the investor would have
already made an investment on the E-2, in order to
qualify the business now for the EB-5, they would
only be required to make up the difference. If they
could get the location of the project certified as a
targeted employment area, commonly known as TEA,
then they would need to round up the investment
to $500,000 as opposed to the standard $ 1 million
requirement. Of course, they will most likely need to
hire additional employees due to the requirement of
creating at least 10 full time positions.
WHO CAN BENEFIT MOST FROM EB-5?
EB-5 is obviously not a logical choice for students
bor n i n cou nt r ies suc h as ma i n la nd Ch i na a nd
Viet na m t hat a re subje ct to ret rog ression. 16 On
the other hand, EB-5 could be the only legitimate
choice for i m m ig rat ion for st udent s bor n i n
cou nt r ie s t h at a re subje c t to re t rog re s sion i n
other visa categories such as EB-2 and EB-3 such
as India. 17 For Indian citizens, who would like to
avoid the retrogression in the other popular visa
categories such as EB-2 and EB-3, should definitely
consider EB-5 as their best option.
WHEN IS A GOOD TIME FOR A STUDENT
TO APPLY FOR THE EB-5 VISA?
If a f i r st-yea r st udent appl ies i n t hei r f i r st or
second semester, then they could get a green card
by their junior year that would help opening up