United States Remove the Conditional Status on an Investment Based Green Card

If you obtained your green card through investing into the U.S. (i.e., you filed an I-526 Petition for Alien Entrepreneur and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS approved your petition and issued your green card), then you are a conditional permanent resident. All green card holders who obtain permanent residence through the EB-5 investor visa program are conditional permanent residents. There are no exceptions.

Additionally, the conditional permanent resident status extends to your dependents (spouse and children). You must file to remove the conditions on your dependents’ statuses at the same time you apply to remove your own conditions.

The EB5 green card holders must provide strong evidence to support the Form I-829 petition to remove conditions. Sufficient evidence about the investment during the period of conditional permanent residency is very important. Generally, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa (EB-5 Visa) required you to invest either $1,800,000 or $900,000 (the lower, $900,000 investment is allowed in the rural or high unemployment locations, which are also known as “targeted employment areas,” or “TEA” in short), and in return, the USCIS had approved you a conditional green card.

The immigrant investor must submit evidence of job creation in the United States. In the event of an investment in a new commercial enterprise, an immigrant investor must provide evidence demonstrating that the new commercial enterprise had generated, or can be anticipated to create (within a rational time frame), at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying workers. In the event of a troubled business, the immigrant investor must submit evidence that the commercial enterprise has continued the number of employees it had prior to the investment for the period of the investor’s conditional permanent residence.

What documents are required to file an I-829 petition?

• Conditional permanent resident card
• Evidence that a commercial enterprise was created, as per federal tax returns
• Documentation that the new commercial enterprise received the petitioner’s capital investment
• Documentation showing the commercial enterprise was maintained for the entire conditional residency period of two years
• Proof that at least 10 full-time jobs were created according to the business plan, as per payroll and tax records
• Biometric documentation including fingerprints, photograph, and signature
• Legal documents pertaining to the  applicant’s criminal history (if applicable)

There is a $3,750 filing fee and $85 biometrics fee associated with the filing for removal of the conditional resident status.

The immigrant investor must submit I-829 petition to USCIS, 90 days prior to the anniversary of the date that the applicant first received his or her conditional residency in the U.S. But, if the I-829 is not submitted on time, the investor may not be granted permanent residency.

When the form I-829 petition is approved the EB 5 visa investor, his or her spouse, and their dependent children under the age of 21 are approved 10-year Green Cards that can be renewed easily. Now they can live and work in the United States permanently.