"It appears at this time that they are all out of their money," said Swanson, who is representing some of the investors in Northern Beef's bankruptcy proceedings. "And the odds of them getting a permanent visa appear to be dwindling."

That stark reality is at odds with what investors were told in May 2012.

"Northern Beef Packers LP is providing a guarantee of refund back to that investor if their I-526 petition is unsuccessful," David Palmer, the company's president, wrote in a letter to investors.

An initial round of financiers, who owned a stake in the plant, were from South Korea; the second and third rounds of EB-5 financiers came from China. Last spring, Gov. Dennis Daugaard's administration blocked a request for a fourth round of EB-5 financing.

Chris Bentley, a spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which oversees the federal EB-5 program, said all investor money is supposed to be held in escrow until visa applications have been approved.

"It's not released from escrow until that happens," Bentley said. He said he has never heard of an instance in which investors were given neither a visa nor a refund.

Extra money flows in