What are the ways to immigrate to the United States? What is investment immigration?

The mainstream ways to immigrate to the United States are

First, the application of relatives

If you have eligible relatives in the United States who are citizens or green card holders, they can submit an application to the immigration office to confirm your relationship, so you can get a green card.

Two. Employment migration

Employment-oriented professional immigrants * * * have five priority categories: (EB 1, EB2, EB3, EB4, EB5, EB5).

The first priority right of EB 1 includes three categories: EB 1A superhuman alien, EB 1B outstanding professor or researcher, and EB 1C multinational company executives. The first priority is characterized by the fact that there is no need to prove the shortage of labor force and the number of immigrants is abundant, but the beneficiaries are required to have great achievements or energy.

The second priority of EB2 includes two categories: unconventional national interest exemption (NIW) and conventional EB2 work permit PERM. NIW does not need job commitments, labor shortage certificates and employer support. For conventional EB2, the employer must prove the shortage of labor. The work promised by the employer should require at least a master's degree or above, or a bachelor's degree plus five years of work experience.

The third focus of EB3 includes two sub-categories: applying for a green card requires a bachelor's degree or at least two years of technical experience. Those who do not require academic qualifications and skills are classified into another subcategory. Employers of EB3 also need to prove a labor shortage.

EB4 Fourth priority: religious visa. This requires church organizations to come forward. Beneficiaries should serve the Ministry of the church.

EB5 Fifth Priority: Investment Immigration. Meet three conditions: a business entity that invests one million dollars or half a million dollars in the United States; Create or increase 10 full-time jobs for American workers. Investment funds should prove their legal sources.

The EB-5 investment immigration project in the United States was implemented on 1990, with the aim of attracting overseas investment immigrants to invest in the United States and creating employment opportunities. This visa has 10000 places every year. According to this scheme, foreign immigrant applicants can obtain a two-year conditional immigrant visa by investing in the United States to create commercial enterprises beneficial to the American economy and creating 65,438+00 full-time employment opportunities for American workers. 90 days before the expiration of the two-year period, if the investment behavior of immigrant investors still exists, they can apply for "conditional removal" and become permanent residents. The investment of this program is 654.38 million dollars. If the investment object is located in the target employment area, the investment amount can be reduced to 500 thousand dollars.

EB-5 has quite loose requirements for applicants, and there are no restrictions on business background, age, education level and language ability, as long as it is proved that its investment funds are legally obtained (including personal accumulated income, gift, inheritance, etc.). If one person applies, the whole family (spouse and unmarried children under 2 1 year old) can get a green card at the same time. After successful application, you can freely choose to live in any city in the United States or continue to work and live in China.

At present, most American immigration projects are "regional center" projects (commonly known as EB-5 projects), and there are many areas to choose from, such as South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Mississippi and other investment immigration projects. Although the investment amount of these projects is generally small, which can reduce the burden on investors, in practice, China people do not understand the laws, business environment, language and operating costs of the United States, and the government does not provide guarantees, so they should be very cautious in risk assessment and project selection before applying.

The application of American investment immigrants can be roughly divided into three stages, namely, the preparation stage, the application stage and the landing stage. The operation time of each stage needs to be determined according to individual circumstances.

Preparation stage (1-3 months):

The preparation stage is the stage of data preparation and fund transfer.

First of all, the immigration lawyer will set the immigration plan according to the applicant's own asset structure and source. The determination of the immigration plan is mainly to determine the legal source of $500,000 investment. There are many schemes to explain funds, such as real estate sales, real estate loans, company profits, etc. The specific fund explanation setting should be simple and clear.

After determining the immigration plan, the applicant needs to provide relevant information according to the plan, including personal basic information and financial explanation. In this process, the applicant needs to transfer the stated USD 500,000 to the supervision account of the selected EB-5 project. In the process of capital transfer, it is necessary to form a clear capital chain and provide corresponding data proof. Before submitting the materials, the customer needs to sign the relevant agreement of the selected EB-5 project. The immigration lawyer will then submit the integrated personal data, capital description data and project agreement data.

Application stage (about 14 months):

When all the materials are ready, the immigration lawyer will submit the case to the Immigration Bureau. After receiving the case, the Immigration Bureau will issue a file number letter, and the applicant can check the application progress at the official website Immigration Bureau according to the file number in the file number letter.

Waiting for approval after obtaining the file number letter, that is, the approval process of I-526, is a long process for immigrant applicants. Generally speaking, it usually takes about 14 months for approval. Of course, in the actual waiting process, the trial speed of the case will be different due to personal data, selected projects and other factors. In addition, during the examination and approval process, if the Immigration Bureau has any questions about the project information, it will also request supplementary documents.

After I-526 is approved, the applicant's case will generally be transferred from the US Immigration Bureau to the US Consulate in Guangzhou, and the US Consulate will notify the interview. Generally speaking, the waiting time from I-526 to interview is about 8- 12 months. Applicants need to have a physical examination during this period, issue a certificate of no criminal record and apply for an immigrant visa. If the applicant is in the United States, I-526 can transfer directly from the United States after approval. Generally speaking, it takes about 4 months to change identity in the United States, and there is basically no need for an interview.

In the process of waiting for an interview, the applicant may face a problem-time schedule. That is, the number of EB-5 places in the United States was used up in the same year, and applicants need to wait for the number of places in the next year before applying. Judging from the current number of applicants of 20 14, the US investment immigration schedule is likely to appear on 20 15.

It should be noted that with the emergence of scheduling, the problem of children's over-age with immigrants will also occur widely. According to American immigration law, the effective age of the children who move with them cannot exceed 2 1 year. If the children are over 265,438+0 years old during the waiting period, they cannot apply.

Landing preparation:

After the interview, the applicant will get an immigrant visa, and the applicant's family members need to land in the United States within 6 months of the validity of the immigrant visa and get a green card in the United States. According to the American investment immigration law, the applicant first gets a conditional green card for two years. After 265,438+0 months, you can apply for a permanent green card according to the investment project.

After getting a green card in the United States, the applicant needs to meet the "immigration supervision" stipulated in the US immigration law. In fact, there is no clear immigration supervision in the United States. According to the immigration law, residents holding American green cards should not leave the country for more than 183 days, and they should keep good contact with the United States. In order to maintain the continuity of green cards, it is usually recommended to live in the United States. For applicants who really cannot live in the United States for a long time, they can buy real estate in the United States, send their children to school, and log in at least once every six months. For those who have no way out, they can apply for re-entry permit in the first five years.