The USCIS has announced that the next EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting will be held Friday, December 5, 2014 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. Eastern. 

These meetings usually provide little useful information. However, on the last call, I posed one question in writing and two verbally and all three elicited important information. We will see what happens with this call.

Job Sharing

An EB-5 green card requires the immigrant to invest capital and create at least 10 full time (35 hours per week) permanent jobs. They may be direct or, in the case of a regional center, indirect jobs. However, they must be full time jobs. Part time jobs do not count. Full time equivalents (FTE) also are not counted. Note the requirement is “jobs” that are created, not just hiring a person.

I am often asked about “job sharing.” Here are some of the factors to consider when two people fill one job:

• 2+ employees must be jointly responsible for the entire position.
• This may involve joint responsibility for a full time position or separate responsibility of each participant for half the job.
• Usually 2+ people operate as a team to achieve a set of common goals or responsibilities in work that is essentially indivisible.
• If employee benefits are not divisible (true for some benefits in some states), full time benefits must be offered to all occupants of the position.
• The USCIS will expect some part time workers, for example, at a fast food restaurant and similar businesses that typically employ part time workers.

Regional centers’ indirect employment input/output models measure jobs based on actual jobs or expenditures and revenues. The latter does not require proof of the actual worker’s wages and hours. And, some models actually include some part time workers.