The Guam Strategic Development Regional Center was recently approved by the US Customs and Immigration Service to facilitate the EB-5 investor visa program for Guam.

The EB-5 Category of U.S. Visas is an excellent opportunity for foreign nationals and their families to become permanent residents of the United States. An EB-5 visa allows qualified applicants to obtain lawful Permanent Resident Status (also known as a Green Card) through investment in a U.S. enterprise. 

This program started in 1990, and it is not complicated, but there are black and white rules, and it is absolutely necessary to follow the rules in order to qualify for a Green Card through this category of visas.

Generally, a person investing $1,000,000 in a business that creates 10 fulltime jobs within 24 months may be granted EB-5 permanent resident status. Once permanent resident status is granted, minimal involvement with the investment is necessary, allowing the applicant and family to work in any other business, attend school, and enjoy life or retirement in the United States or its Territories.

Briefly, the process works like this.

Once an investment has been made, the investor files an EB-5 petition with USCIS showing that the requisite investment was from lawful funds and that the business is expected to generate 10 jobs within a reasonable amount of time, generally two years.  Following petition approval, the investor would then be able to seek an EB-5 immigrant visa from a US Embassy or Consulate and, upon establishing eligibility, obtain the visa and seek admission at a U.S. port of entry within six months of visa issuance.

The investor, his or her spouse, and unmarried children under the age of twenty-one, would be able to seek EB-5 immigrant visas based upon the approved petition. 

Such an admission on the EB-5 visa would commence a “conditional” legal permanent resident status.  Three months prior to the second anniversary of such admission, the investor and family would file a petition with USCIS prior to the second anniversary to remove the conditional status and obtain permanent LPR status.  The document that reflects LPR status, conditional or permanent, is an I-551, typically referred to as a “green card”.   

The $1,000,000 investment may be in the form of legally obtained cash, equipment, inventory, or other tangible property as well as cash equivalents such as certificates of deposit, Treasury bonds and other instruments which are easily convertible into cash.

Multiple investors are permitted in a business, provided each investor seeking a visa has invested the $1,000,000 required amount and each investment creates the required number of full time jobs.

The investor will be involved in the management of the business either through formulating business policy (including acting as a limited partner) or through day-to-day management.

The reality of the EB-5 program as originally established in 1990 is that it is sometimes difficult to actually set-up a business and create 10 full time jobs with a $1 million investment.

So, in 1993 the US Congress supplemented the EB-5 investor program with an option for Regional Centers to be approved covering certain geographical areas of the US and its Territories, including Guam, and for investments in certain types of pre-approved development.

Here is the advantage for investors using Regional Centers - When the investment is made through a regional center it is sufficient when 10 or more jobs are created directly and/or indirectly as a result of the investment. The ability to use indirect employment in meeting the requirement of creating 10 full time jobs is the value of investing through a Regional Center.

For example, a restaurant may have only 6 full time employees, but when you factor in the indirect labor created through such factors as:


Consequently, the range of business opportunities and the likelihood of qualifying for an EB-5 visa may likely be enhanced for the investor when working with a regional center.

Currently, approximately 40 regional centers exist within various jurisdictions  throughout the United States, and in August 2009 the Guam Strategic Development regional center was approved. Commercial business targets for the Guam Regional Center include retail trade, hotels, restaurants, warehousing and distribution, offices, and mixed use development. The initial projects under consideration are bonded warehousing, a commercial complex for professionals in the Island’s capital, luxury shoreline condominiums, multi-use commercial and industrial  development, and construction. Properties for these projects are already under the control of Guam Strategic Development.

The indirect employment factors for all industries are determined by an economic Input-Output Model that we have created for Guam and approved by USCIS. It was formulated for us by Dr. Michael Evans, a nationally eminent economist.

Any investor in a Guam Strategic Development Regional Center project must be able to make the requisite $1,000,000 investment to qualify for EB-5 legal permanent resident status, and must understand that the money will be used in the project only, from which he or she will take a limited partnership interest.  The money invested must be considered to be “at risk” and that no guarantees can be made for any future return of the funds invested.

In addition, the investor will be required to pay a $30,000 subscription fee to become a limited partner of the project in which he or she invests, for operation of the limited partnership.

Overall, the work of the Guam EB- 5 regional center coincides with US government plans for a dramatic build-up of American military forces on Guam, and EB-5 investment projects will be tailored to capture this opportunity. This multi-billion dollar, multi-year US military investment program will offer multiple investment opportunities across the private sector, including residential housing, construction for military installations, infrastructure, and massive road works. The Guam regional center is especially well positioned to fashion its projects in a manner best suited to seize this dramatic, once in a lifetime, economic opportunity.