For much of its history, the US EB-5 (Employment-Based 5th Preference) Immigrant Investor Program was understood as a tool for the globally wealthy. Park $8 lakh in a US project, usually in infrastructure or real estate, and you have high chances of obtaining a green card. The typical applicant was an overseas investor looking for a foothold in the US. That profile is now largely obsolete, at least for Indians.
What's driving Indian participation in EB-5 today is not wealth migration but professional survival. The people now filing EB-5 applications are mid-career engineers, finance professionals and founders who have lived in the US for a decade or more, have built families, bought homes and established careers there, and are staring down an employment-based green card wait that, for Indian nationals, now stretches 40-60 yrs.
