Question:
What is the best option to make up for a deficit of funds? I'm a citizen of Russia. I am looking to purchase a business worth $1,000,000 which would qualify for EB-5 visa. I have $400,000 of my own funds and can prove that it originated from a lawful source of funds. I can borrow the remaining amount of $600,000 from my friend who is American and can prove that the funds were obtained from lawful source of funds. The other options is to borrow the money from my cousin who is a citizen of Ukraine, who has a very good credit history and can take a loan of $600,000 from a bank for me.
Answers:
As long as you can authenticate (and retaining EB5 counsel like our law firm will help!) each dollar used for the investment, you should be able to prepare an approvable petition. Your investment must be from your personal funds and placed at risk, so we would carefully review the loans you are taking for compliance. If you can review the location of the project and determine that it is in a Targeted Employment Area (or within a group of contiguous census tracts that qualifies), then you would only need to invest $500,000.
To be an EB-5 investor you only have to invest USD $500,000 if the new commercial enterprise and the business activity including job creation is located in a target employment area, known as a TEA. You as the investor may borrow funds and use these funds towards your personal investment requirement. But as the U.S. investor you will also have to show that the Lender obtained the funds from lawful sources and you as the borrower have the financial means to pay back the loan on a regular basis.