Indians & EB5
We all know the plight of being born in India and trying to make it in USA without marriage based green card. Given the high TC of SWEs and EMs and a dying desire to stay in USA, why don’t more Indians pursue the EB5 green card route? Serious question since I’m thinking about doing it too. #workvisa #h1b
Quick question: With all these Indians in USA working at FAANG and other big tech, why can’t they start companies in India with their talent? No visa issues, and no being treated like an alien. Is it that Indians prefer western countries over their own?
You are mixing entrepreneurship with being an employee. People who can code doesn’t necessarily mean they have what it takes to create a startup. Those who have what it takes are going back and starting their companies.
Quality of life is the primary reason. Work culture in India is very tough to have a sustainable work life balance. TC is slowly going to be less of an issue. In the past 2 years, I have seen tech companies offer similar pay checks as in the midwestern US. That is pretty impressive considering the cost of living is fairly lower.
It’s $1MM investment (all in) and as of 2022 takes about 3-3.5 years to have the GC in hand. We did a consultation with a lawyer.
Are you saying it takes too long? 3.5 years is nothing compared to 100 years for EB2/3 GC. Or are you saying it’s too expensive?
Plus lawyer feed, you missed that part. I was quoted 10-15% lawyer fees! Crazy!
I personally find marriage based green card is a much better option than eb5. Not saying you should marry someone for the sole person of a green card but you can certainly date more people with it or citizenship and see where it goes. I don’t have the $1M but when I do I’d rather put it towards something else
You can also try to marry someone born in ROW countries and use cross-chargeability to expedite GC process.
Does this work if you get married before your company applies for gc? Or does it have to be a done through a change of status after you get married?
Seems like the topic has diverted into quality of life of India. Has anyone here ever done the EB-5 route?
I planned on doing this when it was 500k for investment. Talked to a lawyer etc, but he quoted 75k for lawyer fees. Now I could have worked with him, but I realized: 1. I can move to Canada and invest 500k in stocks. I'd have a slightly lower paying job but better benefits, and I'd make a huge profit in stocks. The eb5 investment may actually lose money too, so is it really worth it? 2. My PD was 2014, now I'm still waiting for my gc but it wasn't a big difference for me. For someone just applying, yes it may make sense. I know of a friend who did this at 500k. At 1million, I don't think it makes sense tbh unless you have 1 million to spare and ur nw is 3m+. But again comes down to how much you weigh a gc and how long your wait it
I did look into it seriously and it came down to these points: 1. Considering the ROI on the investment, does the cost make sense to you? There is $70K-$80K ‘admin’ fee that you have to pay on top of the minimum required investment. ROI guidance provided by each EB5 investment center leave out these added expenses. So your ROI on the $500K-$1M is much lower. If you were to invest that money some where else, you could earn much more with lesser risk due to diversification options. So, effectively, this investment is only earning you a GC in 3-4 years time with high costs. That option doesn’t work for me. 2. Do you have a solid plan for what would you do differently tomorrow if you got your GC? Until you have that sorted out, not having a GC is more of an inconvenience rather than a true opportunity loss. I know many of my colleagues who got their GCs in past two years, and they still go about their days in the same jobs. Nothing has changed for them. Personally for me, I would go the EB5 route the day it becomes clear to me that not having a GC has become a severe roadblock in my career. That day hasn’t come yet.
One should not look at EB5 as an investment or ROI point of view. You might not even change the job after getting GC. Other way to look at this route is. You will get GC and potentially get Citizenship in 5 years after that you can apply GC for your parents. You don't have to worry about H1B stamping when you travel to India. Look at how many people are waiting for H1B appointment date.
I was thinking the same. If I work my ass off for a few years. I can get the $$$ to get the EB5 visa