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ASPHODEL-NORWOOD · EB-5 FIELD GUIDE

Can an Asphodel-Norwood investor borrow the EB-5 capital rather than selling the business?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

Yes, if the investor is personally and primarily liable for the loan and the debt is not secured by the assets of the new commercial enterprise. The security documents decide it.

Read the security schedule, because that is where the answer is

The rule has two limbs and both must hold. The investor must be personally and primarily liable, meaning the obligation to repay rests on the individual rather than on a company or a guarantor structure that shields the investor. And the loan must not be secured by the assets of the enterprise into which the money is going, because capital that the lender can recover from the business is not truly at risk in the way the programme requires.

Borrowing against the investor's own commercial property, equipment or residence, with the investor as named borrower, generally satisfies both. Borrowing where the project itself pledges collateral does not. Lenders draft security schedules broadly, so this is a document to have read specifically for this purpose before signing, and to keep in the file afterwards because it will be examined.