Regional Centers

In 1992, a program for immigrant investors was established that permits investment through regional centers and relaxes the job creation requirements so that jobs may be proven through direct or indirect employment.

A regional center is “any economic unit, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, including increased export sales, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment.”  A regional center proposal “must provide a framework within which individual alien investors affiliated with the regional center can satisfy the EB-5 eligibility requirement and create qualifying EB-5 jobs.”  The application is filed with the Immigration Investor Program Office in Washington D.C.