Can an EB-5 investor be employed for compensation at the business they invest in?

An EB-5 investor may receive compensation at the business he or she invests in if it is a business under the regular EB-5 program rather than the pilot EB-5 program through an approved Regional Center. EB-5 investor''s employment may not count toward creation of at least 10 full-time jobs to qualify for a visa.

They can as long as the amount of compensation is not minimizing the requisite amount of investment. In that case it will be problem with showing ''investment at risk''.

An EB-5 Investor can certainly be employed in the commercial enterprise. EB-5 regulations provide that an EB-5 investor must engage in a new commercial enterprise, either through policy formulation or through day-to-day management activities. It is unrealistic to expect an EB-5 investor to engage in day-to-day management of the business without any compensation for services. There are no salary restrictions, however, if salary is unreasonably high, it may raise concerns.

For a non-Regional Center EB-5 investor, it is expected that they will be employed by the enterprise they invest in, normally at a managerial or executive level, but for Regional Center EB-5 investors it would be highly unusual and impractical for the investor to be employed by the enterprise they invest in, although it is theoretically possible. If employed, they would need to be paid at least minimum wage, but there is no prevailing wage requirement, or other parameters, that I am aware of. EB-5 Regional Center investors have only a "policy" function with regard to the operation of the enterprise, which normally does not include productive employment.

An EB-5 investment must create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers within two years (or under certain circumstances, within a reasonable time after the two-year period) of the immigrant investor?s admission to the United States as a Conditional Permanent Resident. A qualified employee is a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or other immigrant authorized to work in the United States. This definition does not include the immigrant investor; his or her spouse, sons, or daughters;

Therefore, the Investor can work for the business they invested in. However, the investor should not be counted toward the required number of jobs. In addition, if the business pays the investor a high salary, USCIS may deem this as a disguised form of return of investment and challenge the petition.

An EB 5 investor can be employed in the new U.S. business if it is a direct EB-5 case. EB- 5 investors are not employed in business projects which are associated with EB-5 regional centers.

Yes they can however, the investor will not be eligible to count their own employment as one of the ten full-time jobs that they are required to create by the EB-5 program.

Yes, once the investor is approved for employment authorization document or has a green card they can work for salary in the business as long as the salary is reasonable.

The answer to the first question is yes and the answer to the second question is no; however the investor?s position will not count as one of the 10 new jobs which must be created.

There are no salary restrictions and you can work at the company you own and invest in.

Employment is generally not relevant to the investment on the EB-5 criteria unless it removes the investment risk given the level of compensation. I suggest that we review the individual investment goal to determine the qualification.

If you are investing in a Regional Center, it would be up to that Regional Center to hire you. If you are investing 1 million into a business for yourself, then you can be employed in that business too. Either way, there is no restriction in how much you will be compensated.

While there is no prohibition on the investor being employed by the business that they invested in for EB-5 purposes, please take care that the 10+ jobs that the business creates does not include investor''s own job. Also, whatever compensation is promised to the investor from that business could be deducted from the total investment amount and may disqualify the investor of not meeting the EB-5 eligibility investment amount of either $1 million or $500,000 (if in TEA).

Yes, an EB-5 investor can be paid but they must still create 10 full time jobs for US workers who must also be paid. The investor can be employed for compensation and there is no restriction on the salary.

Yes. The only issue is if the salary is so high that it appears to be a guaranteed return on investment.

Yes, the investor can be employed at ''his'' EB-5 business and be paid. That pay should be reasonable for the type of duties he is performing. Any pay that would be higher than reasonable can be looked at as a ''sham'' transaction to drain money out of the project to minimize the amount of investment.

Usually the investor who directly invests in their own EB-5 business , becomes an owner,and manager ,and may receive compensation for employment services from the EB-5 direct business. In the EB-5 Regional Center context if the investment is to a Fund,then the investor who is an owner of the Fund does not receive employment compensation.that is,the Fund may under a loan model loan the funds to the EB-5 project entity which is where the jobs are created.

It is very risky for the EB-5 Investor to be paid a salary at the business they invest in. Theoretically, it should be fine, but it may be difficult to prove that the salary given to the investor was not in fact, a partial redemption of his investment. I would advise against it, but if you do pursue this course you should confer with an experienced and knowledgeable EB-5 attorney.

Yes, they can be employed there, and they can draw a salary and there are no salary restrictions.

There are no restrictions as to employment of the Investor. Please note if you are an investor in a ''regular'' EB5 program you are in fact required to be actively involved in the business, but not in the case of a Regional Center.