When considering the EB-5 Program as an immigration option, it is important to weigh the pros and cons of the EB-5 Regional Center Designation. Time commitment, cost and marketing are all important aspects to consider, as well as others outlined below.

Pros of EB-5 Regional Center Designation Cons of EB-5 Regional Center Designation
  • Developers can count indirect and induced employment opportunities, and not just direct jobs, in meeting the ten jobs per investor requirement.
  • Expensive- regional center designation can cost upwards of $200,000
  • Access to low-interest, alternative financing
  • USCIS processing times can be lengthy and unpredictable
  • Project pre-approval by USCIS is available
  • Ongoing USCIS compliance requirements
  • Once designated, the regional center can reuse the designation over and over again.  Subsequent projects can raise funds as soon as investors are identified, subscribe to the project and file their EB-5 petitions with USCIS.
  • Limited investor involvement in project deal
  • Competition from other regional centers for investors
  • Ability to adopt outside projects for a fee
  • Ongoing administration of regional center requires dedicated staff and resources(filing of Form D with SEC, monitoring investor filings, monitoring job creation, etc…)
  • Develops awareness of the company overseas
  • The regional center pilot program is set to sunset on September 30th of 2015, absent Congressional action.  (Although, we expect that it will be renewed).
  • Creates U.S. jobs thereby bolstering public image
  • Success in an EB-5 raise depends on ability to effectively market to new foreign investors
  • Regional center designation provides an aura of government endorsement which is useful in marketing abroad

Tags: EB-5 Regional Center
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Photo of Kate Kalmykov Kate Kalmykov

Kate Kalmykov Co-Chairs the Immigration & Compliance Practice. She focuses her practice on business immigration and compliance. She represents clients in a wide-range of employment based immigrant and non-immigrant visa matters including students, trainees, professionals, managers and executives, artists and entertainers, treaty investors

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Kate Kalmykov Co-Chairs the Immigration & Compliance Practice. She focuses her practice on business immigration and compliance. She represents clients in a wide-range of employment based immigrant and non-immigrant visa matters including students, trainees, professionals, managers and executives, artists and entertainers, treaty investors and traders, persons of extraordinary ability and immigrant investors.

Kate has deep experience working on EB-5 immigrant investor matters. She regularly works with developers across a variety of industries, as well as private equity funds on developing new projects that qualify for EB-5 investments. This includes creation of new Regional Centers, having projects adopted by existing Regional Centers or through pooled individual EB-5 petitions. For existing Regional Centers, Kate regularly helps to prepare amendment filings, file exemplar petitions, address removal of conditions issues and ensure that they develop an internal program for ongoing compliance with applicable immigration regulations and guidance. She also counsels foreign nationals on obtaining greencards through either individual or Regional Center EB-5 investments, as well as issues related to I-829 Removal of Conditions.

Kate also works with various human resources departments on I-9 employment verification matters as well as H-1B and LCA compliance. She regularly counsels employers on due diligence issues including internal audits and reviews, as well as minimization of exposure and liabilities in government investigations.

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