I-829 EB5 Job Creation

The regulations require the submission of documentary evidence that establishes that it is more likely than not that the investor is in “substantial” compliance with the capital requirements and that the jobs will be created “within a reasonable time.”

The “within a reasonable time” requirement permits a degree of flexibility to account for the realities and unpredictability of starting a business venture, but it is not an open-ended allowance. The regulations require that the business plan submitted with Form I-526 establish a likelihood of job creation “within the next two years,” demonstrating an expectation that EB-5 projects will generally create jobs within such a timeframe. Whether a lengthier timeframe for job creation presented in a Form I-829 is “reasonable” is to be decided based on the totality of the circumstances presented, and USCIS has latitude under the law to request additional evidence concerning those circumstances. Because the law contemplates two years as the baseline expected period in which job creation will take place, jobs that will be created within a year of the two-year anniversary of the alien’s admission as a conditional permanent resident or adjustment to conditional permanent resident may generally be considered to be created within a reasonable period of time. Jobs projected to be created beyond that time horizon usually will not be considered to be created within a reasonable time, unless extreme circumstances, such as force majeure, are presented.

Taken directly from U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s EB-5 Adjudications Policy Memorandum on May 30, 2013.