What is an EB5 Regional Center?

The Regional Center Pilot Program was first instituted in 1992. Three thousand of the 10,000 total available EB-5 visas are set aside for aliens who invest in a USCIS designated “regional center” in the United States.  An EB-5 regional center is an entity that is organized “for the promotion of economic growth, including improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment.”

A Regional Center Proposal must be filed with the CSC to request USCIS approval of the proposal and designation of the entity that filed the proposal as a regional center. The Regional Center Proposal must demonstrate that capital investments made by individual alien investors within the geographic area of the regional center will satisfy the EB-5 eligibility requirements in order to create qualifying ten EB-5 jobs. 

The Regional Center Proposal should also demonstrate that the new commercial enterprise’s organizational documents, capital investment offering memoranda, and transfer of capital mechanisms for the transfer of the alien investor’s capital into the job creating enterprise are in compliance with established EB-5 eligibility requirements.

One of the primary advantages of applying through a regional center is that the petitioner is not required to demonstrate that the new commercial enterprise itself directly employs ten U.S. workers; a showing of indirect job creation and improved regional productivity will suffice.