When you make an EB-5 investment through a Regional Center, you are purchasing a private placement in the form of equity. In other words, you are purchasing shares in an NCE. The NCE lends the funds it collects from all the investors to another legal entity called the JCE. The loan from the NCE to the JCE has a tenor, otherwise known as maturity. The JCE typically has a couple of (two or three) one-year extension rights when the loan is due. They would use this right if the project owner were not yet in a position to pay back the loan due to delays in construction, sales, or procurement of permanent financing. In most transactions, the JCE is ready to pay off the loan after the senior loan. The key is to understand that the NCE does not have any legal obligation to return the principal to the EB-5 investors. We are not aware of any case whereby the funds have been ready to be returned to the investors that the NCE has decided to hold the funds longer than necessary. Before the investor filing his I-829 petition, if the return of their principal would jeopardize their entire application, the NCE could hold on to or reinvest the funds in another project.