The Houston Guide to Investment Visa
The United States usually allocates a certain number of visa for investors looking to enter the U.S to engage in investments options that beneficial to the economy of the United States through capital investment and job creation. Investors usually receive about 7% of the employment-based immigration visas available every fiscal year. Are an investor looking to invest in the United States and need to get an understanding of the investor visa process? This article by RunRex will give you a better understanding.
The first qualification requirement that an investor has to achieve is that they must have a minimum of either $500,000 or $1,000,000 depending on the area they are going to invest. The funds need to have been from a legitimate source and a clear path from the source to the investor established. Anyone whose funds were obtained illegally will have their petition rejected. Other assets like machinery, also, qualify as assets. Another requirement is that your investments must be at risks.
The categories in the Immigrant investor visa include:
• C5: This is a category for investors looking to invest in a target area.
• T5: This is a category for investors who want to invest in a rural area or a targeted area with very high unemployment rates.
• R5: The R5 category is an Investor Pilot Program for investors looking to invest in the regions that are not targeted.
• I5: The I5 category is, also, an Investor Pilot Program for investors looking to invest in a targeted area.
Filing the Petition
The first step usually involves the investor filing Form I-526 with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. One has to complete this stage first before applying for an immigrant visa. Once approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, it will be forwarded to the National Visa Center. The National Visa Center will then assign a case number to your petition. At this point, one has to wait until the priority date meets the qualifying date. When that period arrives, the petitioner will be notified and instructed to file Form DS-261. It is the Choice of Address and Agent Form. You will be instructed by the National Visa Center to pay the necessary application fees upon which they will have to, also, submit other essential immigrant documents like the application forms and civil records, among others.
Documents you will need to have when filing your petition
• Passport: You need to have a passport that is valid for a minimum of six months beyond the date you will enter the United States. Sometimes the United States Embassy or the consulate may ask you to have a passport with a more prolonged validity period.
• Form DS-260, the Immigrant Visa, and Alien Registration Application
• Civil documents: You need to have certified copies of your civil documents like your birth certificate and your marriage certificate. If the papers are written in another language, you may need to pay translation fees. The original texts and the translations will be returned to you.
• Documents are showing your ability to meet the investment requirements. You will, also, need to bring other documents that show how you obtained your funds.
• Completed Medical Examination Forms: Once you have gotten the necessary vaccinations and undergone the medical examination, your physician will hand you the examination forms.
Fees
The services that have a price attached to them in the application process include:
• Filing of Form I-526 which is the Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur. This fee is payable to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
• The Processing of your immigrant visa application by filing Form DS-260.
• Payment for the required vaccinations and medical examination. The cost for these services are not constant and vary with time and facilities used.
It is important to know that the fee is not to be paid to the consulate, the United States Embassy in your country or the National Visa Center. The National Visa Center will provide the applicant with the necessary guidelines on when and where they are required to make the payments.
Length of the Process
Investment visas are known to take a very long time for the petition to be approved. It is because these permits are numerically limited and the verification of the information usually takes a lot of time. Also, some of the applications typically need further administrative processing. It can take anywhere between 8 month and 18 months for the petition to be approved. As such, applicants are required to be patient as the process continues. An investor, therefore, needs to do proper planning and ensure that they file their petition on time to get to the market at the most favorable time. Another thing to note is that the investor should provide all the documents and fill the information required accurately. Small mistakes in the documentation could result in the petition being denied.
Investors should employ the services of an immigration attorney to ensure that they go through the process smoothly without making any mistakes.