EB-5 Case Study 2: Canadian Business Sale — Approved Despite Buyer Financing and USCIS Valuation Request

A Canadian citizen (originally from Russia) owned a travel-related business in Canada. The business did not require major startup capital, but it generated sizable income over time. The EB-5 investment funds came from the sale of that Canadian business to a U.S. buyer.

Client Profile

A Canadian citizen (originally from Russia) owned a travel-related business in Canada. The business did not require major startup capital, but it generated sizable income over time. The EB-5 investment funds came from the sale of that Canadian business to a U.S. buyer.

Situation

The issue here was not “where did the client earn the money” in the usual sense. The issue was how the buyer paid.

• the buyer did not have enough cash on hand,
• funds were brought in through a borrowed / third-party financing structure, and
• USCIS asked questions about the deal and requested a business valuation tied to the sale price.

Even when a seller’s funds are lawful, a transaction can draw scrutiny if the purchase structure looks unusual on paper.

Goal

Prove that the client’s investment funds were legitimate proceeds from a real sale, and that the sale price was credible—without turning the case into an investigation of a third party that the client does not control.

Plan

1. Explain the transaction structure clearly.
   The petition response needed to show that buyers often finance acquisitions and that borrowing to complete a purchase is not, by itself, improper.
2. Support the sale price with professional valuation.
   Because USCIS asked for a valuation, the plan included obtaining a licensed valuation to justify the price and to align the numbers in a way USCIS could accept.
3. Keep the response tightly scoped to what USCIS asked for.
   It’s a deliberate decision not to provide certain materials that were not requested and would be difficult to obtain—specifically, complete financial disclosure from the third-party lender behind the buyer’s financing structure.

Key Strategy

Answer USCIS’s question without expanding the case into someone else’s finances or other irrelevant paths of inquiry.
This case was handled by addressing the credibility of the sale (and the value) directly, while resisting unnecessary detours into third-party documentation that the client could not realistically compel a lender to provide.

Result

USCIS accepted the valuation and the explanation. The case concluded successfully without requiring full lender source-of-funds disclosure from the third party behind the buyer’s financing.

Takeaway

A business sale can be a strong EB-5 funding path, but if the buyer uses financing, the petition may need extra support. A clean response focuses on what matters: a real sale, a supported valuation, and a clear link between the transaction proceeds and the EB-5 investment.