Why is the EB-1 visa now the best option for EB-5 visa investors? Should EB-5 visa investors wait over 3 years for a temporary green card when they can get a permanent green card in as little as 1.5 years under EB-1C category?

Recently released USCIS numbers clearly prove that a very high percentage of EB-5 visa investors who chose to invest in regional centers did not get their permanent green cards due to widespread fraud. The sad and shocking story is that none of the regional center marketers ever disclose these materially factual statistics to EB-5 visa investors when soliciting their investments.

In the US (and most other jurisdictions), failure to disclose material facts to investors qualifies as securities fraud, and yet we see regional centers commit securities fraud quite openly against EB-5 visa investors.

I-526
Year	Applied	Approved	Denied	Pending
2010	1953	1369	165	1125
2011	3805	1571	372	3347
2012	6041	3677	957	5018
2013	6346	3699	943	7131
2014	10923	4925	1169	12453
2015	14373	8756	1051	17367
I-829
Year	Applied	Approved	Denied	Pending
2012	712	736	60	1013
2013	1217	844	44	1345
2014	2516	1603	178	2075
2015	2767	1067	11	4049

Unscrupulous immigration attorneys, Regional center promoters and marketers deliberately conceal the important fact from investors that it is expected that EB-5 visa investors will take at least 2-3 years to get a temporary green card under EB-5 visa category, and an additional 2.5 years to get a permanent green card. In this period, the investor faces an unnecessary delay that can be easily bypassed simply by using the EB-1C visa option, with which investors can get a permanent green card in as little as a year and a half to two years.

Some of the advantages of EB-1C are as follows:

1) Very little chance of fraud, compared to rampant fraud seen in regional centers in the EB-5 visa program.

2) Significantly lower investment amount. In EB-5 visa, a minimum investment of $500,000 is needed, whereas I've had clients get approved with even $350,000 investment in EB-1C visa category.

3) There is total flexibility about location: EB-1C visa investors face no restrictions about location, whereas EB-5 visa investors see significant location based restrictions if they invest only $500,000, and investors have to invest minimum $1 Million to avoid location based restrictions.

4) The EB-5 visa program has onerous proof of fund requirements, whereas the fund documentation requirements are definitely not as stringent in EB-1C visa program.

5) The job creation requirements are a lot more onerous in EB-5 visa, and I've seen that creating even 4 jobs suffices for an EB-1C visa.

6) Unlike the EB-5 visa program, there is no conditional green card in EB-1C visa program.

7) The time to get a permanent green card under EB-1 visa program ranges from 1.5 to 2 years, whereas it takes almost 5 years to get a permanent green card under EB-5 visa category. Business owners & executives can immediately move to the US on L1A visa, and get their green card in hand within a matter of months, whereas EB-5 visa holders have to wait for about two years to just get a temporary green card.

Keeping the above factors in mind, most investors are now choosing to go with EB-1C visa as it is a lot cheaper, faster, safer and easier to get compared to the EB-5 visa.

If you are a business owner or high net worth individual interested in migrating to the US, please hire our team. We offer a turnkey solution and have a solid track record of success, as we believe in delivering results and not excuses to our clients. That is why we have a 100% fee refund guarantee and freedom from fraud guarantee, while our competitors usually don't offer such guarantees.

Mohammed Shaikh, MBA (Accounting), CFE, Licensed Business & RE Broker (CA & FL)
Online:  http://www.smartbusinessbroker.com Phone: +1 407 535 0616