How can our children immigrate through the EB-5 program?

You can give money to your child and let her be the primary EB-5 applicant. When your child becomes a U.S. citizen, she can apply for the green card for the parents.

If you are not from mainland China, there is no visa retrogression issue. Your child's age will be frozen during the I-526 adjudication. For example, if your child's age is 20 years and 10 months old on the day you file your I-526, his/her age will not grow during the pendency of your I-526. As soon as your I-526 is approved, your child's age will continue to grow and you should file your DS-260 or I-485 before the child's age turns 21. If you are from mainland China, your kids will have to file the petition on their own if their ages are very close to 21, if your primary goal is to obtain U.S. permanent residency for your kids. As soon as they become U.S. citizens, they can apply for green cards for their parents.

If your children will soon be over 21, there may be no other option other than having your children near the age of 21 file a petition in their own name. Do remember that under the Child Status Protection Act if your child is under 21 as long as a petition is pending, that period of time before approval can be subtracted from your child's age. For example, if your child has just turned 20 and you file in the name of the family and it takes a year for the petition to be approved and you immediately file for your adjustment of status in the United States for your immigrant visa at the appropriate American consulate, your child may still be able to immigrate. You need to consult experienced legal counsel.

If you are subject to the Chinese quota, it is best to have the children as the principal applicant. When they become U.S. citizens, they can petition for you. Otherwise, you can each make the $500,000 investment.

If you apply while the children are under 21, they will be included unless the priority date retrogresses or you are from China.

You can gift funds to your children as EB-5 investors, making them the primary applicants, but parents cannot be derivative beneficiaries of their children. The child would need to become a U.S. citizen before petitioning for their parent.

Provided that you apply prior to the 21st birthday of your oldest child, your children will all be included in your petition pursuant to the Child Status Protection Act. If you are a Chinese national, then visa wait times may impact this, but there are currently no visa wait times for nationals of other countries.

One way is for your child to file the I-526 as an EB-5 investor. You may consider gifting funds to qualify a child as an EB-5 investor. You must demonstrate that the funds gifted are from a lawful source of funds, and funds must be traced from you to your child and then to an EB-5 investment. When a child becomes a U.S. citizen and is over age 21, he or she may petition for parents to immigrate to the United States as immediate relatives of the child.

If your children are over 18 years of age, you could give the EB-5 capital to them and they could be the principal applicant investors. You would not be included, but your children could apply for you in five years once they become U.S. citizens.

If your children are not yet 21 and you are not from China, they can get a green card through your application as their parent. Time is of the essence; therefore, I recommend you immediately consult an experienced investment immigration attorney.