A genuine gift can be permissible under the applicable EB-5 rules, but the donor’s lawful source and the transaction must be documented. A family relationship alone does not establish that the funds qualify.
Test substance before signing a gift letter
Explain whether repayment, control or conditions exist, and give counsel the actual arrangement. Obtain the donor’s financial history relevant to the gift and connect it to the transfer. If several relatives contribute, identify each source separately.
The invested capital still needs to meet the enterprise, at-risk and job requirements; a compliant gift only addresses part of eligibility. A relative can be the source of the capital, and the arrangement then has to withstand the same scrutiny that would have applied to funds the investor accumulated personally. Two things need establishing.
The first is the donor's lawful accumulation of the money, documented in the ordinary way. The second is that the transfer is genuinely a gift, made without expectation of repayment or of a share in any return, and that the funds became the investor's own property before being invested. Test the second by asking the family what they actually intend, and by looking at whether anything in the surrounding correspondence contradicts it.
Remember what the capital must then do: be placed at risk in a commercial enterprise, satisfy the applicable job-creation requirement, and support residence granted conditionally with conditions removed only on a later petition.