Under U.S. immigration law, 10,000 immigrant visas per year are available to qualified individuals seeking permanent resident status on the basis of their engagement in a new commercial enterprise. These individuals are often called "alien investors."

Of the 10,000 investor visas (i.e., EB-5 visas) available annually, 5,000 are set aside for those who apply under a pilot program involving a "Regional Center" designated by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

A "Regional Center:"

• Is an entity, organization or agency that has been approved as such by USCIS;
  
  
• Focuses on a specific geographic area within the United States; and ,
  
  
• Seeks to promote economic growth through increased export sales, improved regional productivity, creation of new jobs, and increased domestic capital investment.

"Alien investors" must:

• Demonstrate that a "qualified investment" is being made in a new commercial enterprise located within an approved Regional Center; and,
  
  
• Show, using reasonable methodologies, that 10 or more jobs are actually created either directly or indirectly by the new commercial enterprise through revenues generated from increased exports, improved regional productivity, job creation, or increased domestic capital investment resulting from the pilot program.