USCIS Explains “Full-Time,” Discusses Job Creation Timing in EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently issued a guidance memorandum (PDF) providing USCIS adjudication officers with instructions related to the timing of job creation and the meaning of “full-time” positions in the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
The memo clarifies that for purposes of the Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur (Form I-526) adjudication and job creation requirements, USCIS will consider the two-year period to begin six months after approval of the I-526 EB-5 petition.
USCIS officers will ensure that the business plan filed with the I-526 reasonably demonstrates that the requisite number of jobs will be created by the end of the two-year period. For Regional Center petitions and for purposes of indirect job creation, USCIS adjudicators may consider economic models that rely on certain variables to show job creation and the amount of investment to determine whether the required infusion of capital or creation of direct jobs will result in a certain number of indirect jobs.
USCIS also has concluded that certain direct and indirect jobs that previously would have been considered to be temporary or intermittent (such as construction jobs) may be considered as permanent jobs for purposes of the EB-5 program if the positions can be expected to last at least two years.
USCIS Guidance on EB-5 (PDF)
