How long does it take to get money out of EB-5 investments?

[Source: Which EB5; Guest blog by attorney Anthony Olson]

One of the top questions in the mind of every prospective EB-5 investor is “How long does it take to get my money out of the EB-5 investment?” To answer that question, we have to examine that question from three primary perspectives: 1) immigration legal requirements for how long the investment must be maintained; 2) contractual legal restrictions; and 3) market, economic obstacles to cashing out of the investment.

USCIS requires that the $500,000 of investment funds and the program fee charged by the regional center be paid either into escrow, pending the approval or denial of the I-526 petition, or paid directly into the EB-5 enterprise before the I-526 petition can be filed. Therefore, the funds must be held in escrow or in the EB-5 project the entire time that the I-526 petition is pending, which can range from one month to one year. From recent experience in 2012 and 2013, the processing times have gone up from 4-6 months to 10-12 months. Once the I-526 petition is approved, USCIS requires that the investment be maintained until USCIS approves the I-829 petition to remove conditions from the conditional permanent residence. This means that we need to add another 3-6 months (sometimes longer) for consular processing of an immigrant visa or adjustment of status in the U.S. in order to begin the two-year period of conditional permanent residence. Then, in the final 90 days of the two-year period, the EB-5 investor must file the I-829 petition to remove conditions from the conditional permanent residence. It typically takes anywhere from 2 months to 10+ months for USCIS to decide the I-829 petition. So, if we figure the processing times on the longer end, with 10 months for the I-526 petition, 6 months for the consular processing, 2 years of conditional permanent residence, and 6 months for the I-829 petition, then we have 46 months, which is just 2 months short of 4 years. I generally tell clients to figure on 3.5 to 4 years to go through the EB-5 immigration process from start to finish, which is how long the client’s funds must be tied up due to immigration legal requirements.

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