Immigration Q&A: Fundamental changes in immigration investment

Immigration Q&A: Fundamental changes in immigration investment 1. Are there any changes in the recent 500,000 investment? Answer: The U.S. Immigration Service (USCIS) recently announced that...

Immigration Q&A: Fundamental changes in immigration investment 1. Are there any changes to the recent 500,000 investment? Answer: The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently announced that it will make major improvements to the management of the investment immigration project (also known as the EB-5 project), simplify project review, and create job opportunities. Congress created the EB-5 investment immigration program in 1990 to attract global investors and entrepreneurs to create jobs in the United States. The Investment Immigrant (EB-5) program allows 10,000 investment immigrants to enter the United States each year to invest in business and create at least 10 American jobs. These investment immigrants can apply individually or as members of the regional center project designated by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. The USCIS plans to make the following three fundamental changes in the processing of EB-5 regional center project applications: 1) The USCIS will speed up the review of entrepreneurial projects that have been fully designed and can be directly implemented. The Immigration Bureau also provides EB-5 investment immigration applicants with priority processing service (Premium Processing Service). There is an additional fee for this service, and a decision is made within 15 working days. 2) The Immigration Bureau will form a new special team composed of experts who are proficient in economic analysis and investment immigration requirements. Applicants for the Investment Immigration Regional Center project will be able to communicate directly with these special team experts via email, simplifying dispute resolution and quickly handling applicants' related questions or needs. 3) The Immigration Bureau will convene an expert decision-making board to make a decision on the application for the investment immigration regional project. The decision-making board will be composed of an economist and adjudicators, assisted by professional lawyers. 2. I used a regional center investment of 500,000 to get a green card. Do I need to file a tax return on my income in China? Answer: According to the requirements of US tax law, green card holders must disclose their overseas company shares. At the same time, they must declare their overseas financial accounts, including bank accounts, investment accounts, life insurance accounts, and bank accounts of companies they control. Many people only find out that they need to declare companies and accounts after obtaining a temporary green card. But they are unwilling to declare. If you fail to declare, if you are found by the IRS to have omitted to report a company or an account, you will be fined $10,000 and may even be held criminally responsible. After obtaining a temporary green card, if a new immigrant sells a home in the country, he or she will find that he or she has to pay 20% tax in the United States on the profit from the sale of the home. If you make tax arrangements before immigrating, you can sell the property in advance or transfer it to a family member, so you can avoid paying a large sum of money. The common mentality of non-filers is, "How can the IRS find out that I have shares in companies in China?" In fact, with the development of information technology, the IRS's investigative capabilities are also constantly improving. For example, temporary green card holders will receive IRS Form K-1 or other similar tax filing certificates from the regional center where they invested. The IRS should easily determine that a tax filer is a new investment immigrant and conduct a focused investigation. Before obtaining a green card, investors often come to the United States for inspection on a business visa. If the investor stays in the United States for more than 183 days in a certain year, then according to U.S. tax law, the investor becomes a resident within the meaning of U.S. tax law and must pay taxes like ordinary U.S. citizens. People who frequently come to the United States for business trips should record the number of days they are in the United States to avoid the jurisdiction of U.S. tax laws. It should be noted that the 183-day test is based on a three-year test range. That is, the number of days in the United States in the current year, plus one-third of the number of days in the United States last year, plus one-sixth of the number of days in the United States in the previous year. For example, if a person enters and leaves the United States with a multiple-entry business visa and stays in the United States for 120 days in 2008, 120 days in 2009, and 124 days in 2010, then the number of test days in 2010 is 120/6+120/3+124 =184 days, and he becomes a U.S. tax resident. U.S. residents who work abroad continuously for more than one year may enjoy a tax exemption of US$90,000. This tax exemption only applies to work income or business income, and does not apply to investment income, that is, stock investment, interest and income from the sale of houses, etc.