Here’s why an EB-5 visa is the best graduation gift you can give your child who is attending a U.S. school or college.
As we approach the end of the school year, you may be helping your children plan the next steps they wish to take in their studies and careers. High school students will be planning out which colleges to apply to, graduating high school students will be thinking about the classes they want to take at their chosen U.S. college, college students will be planning their internships, and recent or soon to be college graduates will be editing their resumes and applying for jobs.
This type of planning sounds straightforward, but for many international students here in the U.S. they are hindered by the limitations of their non-immigrant visas.
Quickly, what is the EB-5 Program?
It’s a program created by Congress to stimulate the U.S. economy through foreign capital investment and job creation in the U.S. Qualified EB-5 Program applicants may obtain U.S. lawful permanent residency by investing a minimum of $900,000 in a job-creating U.S. commercial enterprise.
Why an EB-5 visa?
Here are the issues international students may face when continuing their studies and preparing for their careers and how the EB-5 visa can be a great solution to these problems.
Problems facing international students in high school preparing to apply to U.S. colleges, universities and vocational programs and graduating international students entering college include tougher program admissions rates and higher costs.
Top tier U.S. colleges and universities already admit only a small percentage of students each year, but they typically admit an even smaller percentage of international students. Many students wish to study in the U.S. One reason may be because 8 of the top 10 universities in the world are located in the U.S. The top four are:
1. Harvard University
2. Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology (MIT)
3. Stanford University
4. University of California, Berkeley
These universities are already highly competitive. EB-5 visa holders, who are applying to U.S. colleges and universities, would gain the benefit of being considered U.S. residents during the admissions process. This may give them better admission rates and therefore a more competitive edge in the application pool.
Another benefit of the EB-5 visa for families with students is the reduced in-state tuition costs, the availability of financial aid, and the wider variety of scholarships.
When planning your educational future timing is important. Depending on the EB-5 investor’s country of birth, they may see faster adjudication times than other visa categories.
Parents whose unmarried children are under the age of 21, may apply as the principal investors if they wish to move to the U.S. as a family. However, if the student is older than 21 years of age, married, or wishes to immigrate alone, they can still apply for EB-5. Students can be EB-5 investors. Parents can give their children the EB-5 funds needed to make the investment. Here’s more information about how to gift your children EB-5 funds. Gifting EB-5 funds could be the best graduation present you could give your child attending a U.S. high school.
For high school students, planning to obtain an EB-5 visa during their college years could be very advantageous. Students on the F-1 and M-1 visas face tough restrictions on what types of training and internships they can take on during their studies. They may be limited by their program, by their employer, and/or by the limited duration of training period. EB-5 investors face no such restrictions and as result, they can better compete with their classmates after graduation for their dream jobs.
Problems facing current college students and graduating college students include limited opportunities for gaining work and training experience during the school year and being able to stay in the U.S. and pursue dream careers post-graduation:
International students on F-1 or M-1 visas, who have spent years studying at a U.S. college, may, under certain conditions may become eligible to work in the U.S. under the Curricular Practical Training (CPT) or the Optional Practical Training (OPT) for up to one year after graduating, however, after that they will most likely have to find another visa type in order to stay in the U.S.
These training programs are highly restrictive. Both CPT and OPT require candidates to train in a field directly related to their program of study, but CPT also requires the training to be an integral part of the schools curriculum, and authorization is for a specific employer during a specific time period. OPT must be authorized by USCIS.
After an international students uses all their allotted training time and CPT or OPT expires, they must quickly find another way to stay in the U.S. A common visa of choice for many is the popular H1B employer-sponsored visa. The H1B visa is a lottery and applicants are not eligible to work until they are approved and issued a visa. Applicants, therefore, must return to their home country unless they find another visa in the interim. Recently the demand for the H1B visa exceeds the supply and many applicants must find an alternative visa option.
Do you have your sights set on a career in the U.S.? With an EB-5 visa, international students would be able to live, study, work, and travel without restrictions. Under an EB-5 visa they would not need an employer-sponsor and they would not be strictly required to work directly in the field in which they studied. They would be able to pursue a wider variety of internships during their studies and better compete with their fellow students post-study in the career field. Gifting EB-5 funds to your college graduates may be the best gift you can give them if they wish to continue living and working in the U.S.
While the EB-5 Program is currently oversubscribed for applicants from three countries: Mainland China, Vietnam and India, it is a great option for applicants born in all other countries around the world. Additionally, India is predicted to become current by the summer of 2020. Furthermore, demand for the EB-5 visa has been diminishing over the last several months due to a myriad of factors, and therefore, applicants from underrepresented countries may have a unique opportunity during this time to get an EB-5 visa more quickly.
Historical national average processing times for the EB-5 Program I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur is just 12.6 months for FY 2020 (October 1, 2019 – January 31, 2020).
EB-5 During Covid-19:
While USCIS has temporarily closed its offices and suspended services that require its workers to have direct contact with the public, they have continued services that do not require any public contact. This means that USCIS has continued to process the EB-5 Program’s I-526 petitions as it does not require staff to interact directly with the public.