Rumors of a large scale EB-5 project in rural Michigan this week began to draw some concern. A group of 400 Chinese EB-5 investors have reportedly expressed a desire in funding an upscale housing development approximately 20 miles from Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan. The development would consist of 400 units – one for each EB-5 investor – designed specifically for Chinese Immigrants.
The investors hope to take advantage of the USCIS EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program while purchasing the real estate developed and being able to send their children to one of the top Universities in the country at U.S. resident tuition rates.
For anyone familiar with the EB-5 program and its requirements, the rumored EB-5 project – while awaiting official release of information from local townships – would be cause for concern regarding USCIS EB-5 regulations and issues that have yet to be explored. Could this community create and sustain enough EB-5 jobs to meet the 10 job requirement per investor?
With 400 homeowner-investors, the project would need to create or preserve at least 4,000 jobs during the investment period. This EB-5 project would be unprecedented and, if the company can get it to work, could possibly be replicated throughout the United States. What would that mean for EB-5 stakeholders? Plenty!
For starters, EB-5 Investors would be able to get the proverbial ‘two birds with one stone’ – they could make their EB-5 investmentand purchase a home for residence. The USCIS would have to evaluate the EB-5 job creation of such a program. If the job creation was approved, the EB-5 program would have a new EB-5 project model to replicate. That leaves us with one last question, would an EB-5 project like this upscale housing development in rural Michigan change the United States’ melting pot into a salad bowl in which all of the ingredients touch, but never truly mix? That is a big question for the USCIS to ponder before the EB-5 program expires at the end of September.
