The investment rate for the EB-5 Program has officially gone up from $500,000USD to $900,000USD for TEA and from $1millionUSD to $1.8million USD. There are many other changes to the EB-5 program within the new regulations other than the increased minimum investment amounts. There are new Targeted Employment Area (TEA) definitions, further the designating authority of TEAs is taken away from the State and the ‘United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) will now be verifying whether the project is in a qualified TEA directly. What other routes are there to the USA? An increasingly popular route and perhaps the best solution to obtaining work and visa in the USA is the Grenada E-2 visa. What is the E-2 visa? It is a part of a Treaty of Commerce, where members of this treaty obtain the right to work and live in the USA. How does it work? You apply for a citizenship in an E2 treaty country such as Grenada through an approved government agent. Once you have had your citizenship for five (5) years, you will then be able to apply for the E-2 visa. When applying you will also have to invest a substantial amount in the USA, starting from $100,000USD. What are the benefits? The E-2 visa is a great way for entrepreneurs to start businesses in the U.S. as the investment of substantial amount is as little as $100,000 and is potentially obtained in less than 15 days. Further, if the business is a great success, investors can potentially get the opportunity to transition their E-2 visa into a Green Card through EB-5. For example, putting your investment amount for Grenada citizenship and US E-2 together would cost less than the EB-5 program. Further, you do not have to live in Grenada throughout the 5 years of having the citizenship. Countries like China, Vietnam and India all have application backlogs, with China and Vietnam having the biggest backlog for EB-5. India still has a backlog of eight to ten years, the Grenada citizenship and E-2 visa easily cuts the waiting time to have a visa in the USA short.