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KING · EB-5 FIELD GUIDE

Does money in escrow satisfy EB-5 investment requirements?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

That depends on the arrangement and applicable rules. Counsel must assess the commitment and release terms; merely naming an account escrow does not establish that qualifying capital has been invested or is actively being invested.

Review the contract before the wire

Provide the subscription and escrow agreements together, including amendments and any refund promises. Identify what event allows release and who makes that decision. Ask how the terms support the petition’s investment evidence and when funds become available for the enterprise.

Commercial protection and immigration compliance are related questions, but one should not be inferred solely from the other. Give counsel the complete instrument set at once, since a partial set produces provisional advice that has to be repeated. Hypothetical example: an investor supplies the subscription agreement but not the escrow agreement, and the release condition sits in the latter.

The advice given is then about half the arrangement. Provide both, with amendments and any side letter, and identify the event permitting release, the person certifying it and the destination account. Whether capital held under a particular arrangement has been invested or is actively in the process of being invested depends on those terms assessed against the applicable requirements, and the capital must be at risk in a new commercial enterprise.

Naming an account escrow decides nothing on its own. Record the date of the advice and the document versions it covered, because offerings amend their terms and an assessment tied to a superseded version is of little use later.