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IMMIGRANT
INVESTOR—DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED
IN SUPPORT
OF THE I-526 PETITION
(Not all
documents are applicable in each case. Submit
only those documents that apply)
I. Evidence showing that the new commercial enterprise
has been established by the petitioner in the US.
- Articles of Incorporation, Organizational Minutes and
Bylaws.
- Certificate of Merger or Consolidation.
- Partnership Agreement, Certificate of Limited
Partnership, Joint Venture Agreement, Business Trust Agreement, or other
similar organizational document for the new commercial enterprise.
(Include both the Holding Company and its wholly owned subsidiaries,
if applicable).
- Business Licenses and Resale Permits (Sales Tax
Permits), if applicable.
- Signed Leases to business premises, or if real estate
has been purchased, both the Grant Deed and Closing Statement are required,
as well as signed contracts for construction of the premises, if applicable;
a description of the physical premises, including photographs, or drawings
of the planned premises if not yet constructed.
- Evidence of the purchase or lease of office equipment.
- Employment records.
- Telephone and utility bills.
- Bank statements.
- Affidavits from business counsel, brokers, public
accountants, or other relevant professionals conducting business with the
enterprise.
- Certified corporate tax records for the new
enterprise, if applicable.
- Evidence of assets that have been purchased for use in
the US enterprise, including invoices, sales receipts, and purchase
contracts.
- A description of what the enterprise has done to date
including income and expense figures (both actual to-date figures and
figures projected for two years).
- A list of assets and prices of items to be purchased.
- A professionally-prepared comprehensive business plan
(of the grade required to obtain a sizeable loan from a financial
institution) which indicates the type of business, goals, financial
forecasts and projections for implementation of the business plan, including
requested capitalization and anticipated return on the investment, and
estimated timetables for construction, commencement of operations, and
hiring.
- Specific market research demonstrating that the target
area for business will support it.
- Credentials of key persons responsible for development
and management of the business enterprise, including the investor if
applicable.
II. Evidence showing that the
petitioner has invested or is actively in the process of investing the requisite
amount of capital.
- Document the purchase of assets for exclusive use by
the new commercial enterprise in the United States, including invoices,
sales receipts, and purchase contracts containing sufficient information to
identify such assets, their purchase costs, date of purchase, and purchasing
entity.
- Evidence of property transferred from abroad for
exclusive use by the new commercial enterprise in the United States,
including United States Customs Service commercial entry documents, bills of
lading, and transit insurance policies containing ownership information and
sufficient information to identify the property and to indicate the fair
market value of such property.
- Evidence of monies transferred or committed to be
transferred to the new commercial enterprise in exchange for shares of stock
or other form of ownership (such stock or ownership agreement may not
include terms requiring the new commercial enterprise to redeem the
investor’s shares of stock or ownership at the investor’s request).
- Evidence of any loan or mortgage agreement, promissory
note, security agreement, or other evidence of borrowing which is secured by
assets of the petitioner, other than those of the new commercial enterprise,
and for which the petitioner is personally and primarily liable.
- In cases where all or part of the required capital
consists of a promissory note, the investor may not be able to exercise a
sell option, and the new commercial enterprise may not be able to exercise a
buy-out option, until the promissory note is paid in full, and no portion of
the investor’s requisite capital, or interest earned from it, may be used
to make payment on such a promissory note,
- A promissory note is acceptable only when the
petitioner is clearly obligated to make all the required payments on the
note and there are no escape clauses.
- In addition, if all or part of the assets used to
secure the promissory note, including real property, are located outside the
jurisdiction of the Unites States Courts, the petitioner must provide
evidence of the direct enforceability against such assets by a United States
Court, the security interests in the note are perfected in the jurisdiction
in which the assets are located and the assets are fully amenable to seizure
by a US note holder.
- If any portion of the required capital is in the form
of cash, the deposit of the funds into the business bank account of the new
commercial enterprise must be documented in the form of bank statements or
receipts, clearly identifying both the payer (the petitioner) and the payee
(the new commercial enterprise). Unsupported
secondary evidence such as affidavits and photocopies of checks will not
suffice. Depositing the funds
into the personal bank account of the investor is not acceptable.
- The petitioner must submit copies of all relevant
agreements between the petitioner and any other parties (including the new
commercial enterprise), signed and dated by all parties involved, and must
include all attachments, exhibits, addendums, and any other relevant
documents referred to within the body of the agreement and the attachments
thereto.
III. Evidence that the
petitioner has invested, or is actively in the process of investing, capital
obtained through lawful means.
- Foreign business registration records along with
audited financial statements certified by an independent public accountant.
- Certified US and foreign business or personal tax
records.
- Certified tax returns filed by the investor.
- Loan documents from financial institutions.
- Affidavits verifying donations or loans from family
members and friends, including evidence that the donor or lender obtained
the capital through lawful means.
- Other credible and verifiable information relating to
the past and existing business of the investor and the investor’s current
financial standing.
- Evidence identifying any other source(s) of capital.
- Certified copies of any judgments or evidence of all
pending governmental civil or criminal actions, governmental administrative
proceedings, and any private civil actions (pending or otherwise) involving
monetary judgments against the petitioner from any court in or outside the
United States within the past fifteen years.
- The evidence must be sufficient to establish that the
entire amount of statutory capital has been obtained through lawful means.
(Evidence of the investor’s current financial worth such as bank
statements and property appraisals does not establish that the capital was
obtained through lawful means).
IV. Evidence showing that a new
commercial enterprise will create at least ten full-time positions for
qualifying employees (per investor).
- The petitioner must demonstrate that the required
number of employees have been hired, and include an organizational chart
showing their job titles, names, hire dates, and US immigration status,
state or federal quarterly payroll contribution returns, and Form I-9 for
each employee hired.
- If the requisite number of persons have not yet been
hired, submit a comprehensive business plan indicating that due to the
nature and projected size of the new commercial enterprise, the need for not
fewer than the required number of employees will result, and include an
organizational chart showing the number of employees to be hired, a list of
job titles, estimated pay, and approximate dates, within the next two years,
when such employees will be hired.
- The investor should indicate how many positions are
full-time (that is, at least 35 hours per week).
- The investor should also indicate which employees, if
any, are his or her relatives and identify each relative/employee’s
relationship to the investor.
V. Evidence showing that the
petitioner is or will be engaged in the management of the new commercial
enterprise—either through the exercise of day-to-day managerial control or
through policy formulation—as opposed to maintaining a purely passive role
regarding the investment.
- The petitioner must demonstrate that the investor will
be included in the management of the new commercial enterprise, either
through policy formulation or day-to-day managerial functions, or evidence
that the investor is a corporate officer or member of the corporate board of
directors.
- In the case of a limited partnership, the partnership
agreement must provide the petitioner with certain rights, powers, and
duties normally granted to limited partners under the Uniform Limited
Partnership Act, followed by many states, or by the law governing limited
partnerships in the state in question.
VI. Additional Requirements.
Any document submitted showing an amount in a foreign
currency must be accompanied by a current currency exchange rate chart
indicating the appropriate exchange rate from the foreign currency to US
dollars.
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