An experienced EB-5 attorney is essential to successfully apply your EB-5 process, a multi-year process involving numerous, often complex, requirements and many important but confusing paperwork. An attorney can help ensure that requirements are met and documentation is submitted promptly, helping to avoid potential errors that could delay your application for months or even years.
Finding the right lawyer, however, can be difficult as there are now immigration lawyers with no EB-5 experience who are just starting in the field. Through the operation of 14 USCIS-authorized EB-5 regional centers, we have had more than 1,800 investors, and as such, EB5AN has worked with many EB-5 immigration lawyers. To request a list of experienced EB-5 immigration attorneys with whom we have direct experience and whose services we are pleased to refer, please get in touch with the EB5AN team. You can also contact us by phone, text, or WhatsApp at +55-21-97925-3366 or by email.
Before hiring an attorney to help you obtain your EB-5 visa, ask and carefully check the answers to these questions.
- How many I-526 and I-829 petitions have you facilitated, and what are your approval rates?
The I-526 and I-829 petitions are the cornerstones of obtaining U.S. permanent residency through the EB-5 program. The I-526 petition to grant the investor immigrant status is the first form submitted in the EB-5 visa process. The I-829 is the petition to remove conditions on an investor’s permanent resident status and allow an extension on conditional permanent resident status.
An attorney’s success in approving these two petitions will inform your ability to help you achieve your desired outcome – an EB-5 visa and all the investor benefits of being a U.S. permanent resident. While past performance does not guarantee future results, past success increases the likelihood of future success.
Find someone who can if the attorney you speak with can’t provide approval rates. There’s no good reason why they wouldn’t have that information available.
Also, please pay attention to the number of petitions the attorney has facilitated to gauge their experience level. If a lawyer has a 100% success rate but has only worked on three sets of documents, the success rate becomes much less impressive.
- Do you have a strategy for proving the source of funds?
Regardless of which EB-5 visa investment project you select, you must ensure that your lawyer has a clear and detailed plan for approaching source-of-fund documents with you. Documenting the source of investment funds is one of the main components of the EB-5 application.
Given that documentation needs to prove that the funds were obtained and transferred legally, a substantial amount of time and effort will be devoted to ensuring that everything is documented accurately. Any error will result in the application being denied.
Generally, tracking the source of funds for an EB-5 investment involves providing detailed financial records, which often need to be translated. For example, if your funds come from the sale of property, you will need to show not only documentation of the sale but also documentation that clarifies the source of funds from the initial purchase. If you used an inheritance for the initial purchase, you must provide evidence of where those funds originated. Sometimes, you must show how the person you inherited the funds from earned the money.
Ensure you are confident that the lawyer such eb 5 visa lawyers you hire will do the work necessary to ensure this part of the process goes as smoothly as possible.
- Have you worked with candidates from the country?
No two EB-5 candidates or applications are the same. That said, some generalizations based on the applicant’s home country can affect an attorney’s approach to an EB-5 application. For example, some documents may not be available in the format required by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In such cases, applicants can submit unique documents from their home countries. Working with a lawyer who understands these country-specific requirements can greatly simplify document gathering.
An EB-5 immigration attorney such as SimVisa for example who has successfully processed other applications from your country can help you avoid pitfalls specific to your country’s applications. If you talk to a lawyer who has never worked with a candidate from your country, consider finding someone else.
