BENGALURU: The Invest In the USA (IIUSA) on Friday made a pitch to wealthier Indians to make use of the EB-5 investor program to invest in commercial enterprise in the USA, which also offers a quicker way to get citizenship in that country. Addressing the media ongoing series of EB-5 programme roadshows across India, Aaron Grau, Executive Director, IIUSA, said, “EB-5 programme affords foreign nationals and their spouses and unmarried children under age 21 the ability to obtain a US visa based upon a minimum investment in an economic development enterprise that creates or retains a specified number of jobs.
The US EB-5 Immigrant Investor Programme requires that a foreign individual invests in a new commercial enterprise that is associated with government-approved regional centres based on proposals for promoting economic growth.”
The EB-5 program requires $1 million for a standard — which is a non-Targeted Employment Area (TEA) investment — and $500,000 for a TEA investment by those seeking Green Card, or permanent residency status in the USA. According to the latest findings by IIUSA, the demand for EB-5 programme in India increased by 400 per cent between 2016 and 2019. Additionally, Indian nationals held the most number of EB-5 immigrant investor applications in the October-December and April-June quarters for the fiscal year 2019.
“The E-B5 programme is truly an economic development which will help in creating jobs for Indian workers,” Grau said. In March 2022, US President Joe Biden signed a law that includes EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Centre Programme and various implementation effective dates for it, which will be in effect till September 30, 2027.
The programme is reviewed by the US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS). IIUSA in partnership with PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry is holding a series of EB-5 passport visa educational events in India for cohesive knowledge-building sessions about the US investment/EB-5 immigration process, project due diligence, and financial & tax planning in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru over May and June.