Investment amount – The primary requirement to be eligible is to meet the minimum capital amount. i.e., either $900,000 in a TEA or $1.8 million outside a TEA. The money invested must be considered “at-risk”, meaning that capital return cannot be guaranteed.

Type of enterprise/entity – The investment must be in a “for-profit” new commercial enterprise.

Job creation – The investment must create at least 10 new full-time jobs within 2 years of application approval.

In the case of a direct investment, the investor should be able to furnish details and proof about creating direct jobs for full-time employees, i.e. who work in directly for the new commercial enterprise.

Regional Center investments also count indirect and induced jobs in addition to direct jobs when fulfilling the job creation requirement.

Source of funds – The money invested must not originate from any illegal activity (source of funds is very closely scrutinized by USCIS from two perspectives – the legality of the source itself and also how the investor came to possess the funds for investment)

Types of funds – The funds invested can be salaried income, stocks, securities, bank account deposits, proceeds from asset sales such as real estate, inheritance, gifts and loans from family members. Loans provided the investor must be under a loan agreement and carry sufficient collateral.