Six to Ten Year Wait for Chinese EB5 Investors

Currently, only Chinese investors who applied for EB-5 visa before February of 2014 can get their Green Cards now--so the waiting time for those investors is 2 years and 4 months. But this waiting time keeps increasing because over the last two years several thousands of new EB-5 applications have been filed, which is many more times than yearly EB5 visa quota. What is the waiting time for Chinese EB-5 investors who are planning to apply this year?

There are approximately 40,000 Chinese EB-5 petitions pending and an additional 20,000 approved petitions awaiting visa availability--that is total of 60,000 people waiting in line. If all of the 10,000 annual EB5 quota was used by the Chinese investors, it would take at least 6 years wait for a Chinese investors applying now. However, other countries made up 15% EB5 investors last year, and that percentage is likely to increase to over 50% as the Chinese EB-5 market collapses due to long wait times and as other markets rise. If 50% of the EB5 applications in a year come from non-Chinese investors, that means that number of visas available for Chinese investors could shrink to 5000 per year, resulting in almost 12 years wait for Chinese investors investing now.

EB-5 Immigrant Investors

The EB5 visa category is available to foreign nationals who invest $1 million in a new enterprise that employs 10 US workers, not including the immigrant, the immigrant’s spouse, or the immigrant’s children. 

The amount of the investment only needs to be $500,000 in a targeted employment area. A “targeted employment are” is a rural area or other designated area where the unemployment rate equals 150 percent of the national average.

There is a also an Immigrant Investor Pilot Program. 

EB-5 Immigrant Investors

EB-5 Immigrant Investors:

The basic idea idea behind the EB-5 is if you invest enough money in a US commercial enterprise,  you may be eligible for an investment based visa. 


The general requirement is that you must invest $1 million and create at least 10 new jobs. The investment amount can be lowered to $500,000 if the investment is made in a "targeted employment area".