IN THIS GUIDE · Identify which project entity supports each EB-5 claim
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Map the entities without assuming the legal effect
Hypothetical example: an offering names an investment company and several operating businesses. Identify their roles and the actual agreements rather than treating every group activity as evidence for the investor. Have the structure assessed under the applicable standalone or regional-center framework.
Trace the job methodology to the proposal
The program generally requires at least ten qualifying jobs under the relevant method. Identify what the supporting analysis counts and why it applies to this structure. A total drawn from unrelated operations should not be assumed to establish this investor’s requirement.
Follow the investor’s own funds
Provide lawful source and path and the actual capital commitment at risk. Separate project charges and other investors’ money from the applicant’s funds. The project’s entity chart does not establish how the individual obtained or transferred capital.
Separate project and immigration outcomes
Review commercial risk, repayment uncertainty and the applicable residence stages. Visa availability, admissibility and derivative eligibility remain individual questions. Any CSPA issue needs actual dates; filing does not automatically freeze age or turn a group forecast into a guaranteed family outcome.
Use the current capital, job and residence conditions
The current standard capital minimum is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure investment. Statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027; use the petition filing date. At least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor are required under the applicable standalone or regional-center method. Assess management or policy participation, including qualifying limited-partner rights. Conditional residence starts at immigrant-visa admission or adjustment approval; I-829 is generally filed in the 90 days before its second anniversary. Filing does not itself remove conditions or guarantee repayment.
Decide between a regional-center project and a direct investment
A direct EB-5 investment must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers, meaning citizens, permanent residents and other authorized immigrants, employed by the new commercial enterprise itself for at least thirty-five hours per week. In a regional-center project, indirect and induced jobs modelled by an economist may be counted. Money held inside a corporation has to reach the investor before it can be invested, and the route chosen — dividend, salary, loan repayment, share redemption — determines both the tax consequence and the documentary trail. Existing payroll is not universally new job creation; a qualifying troubled-business preservation case has separate requirements. For direct jobs, full time generally means at least 35 hours weekly; independent contractors, nonimmigrants, the investor, spouse and sons or daughters do not qualify. The investor must be engaged in the business through management or policy formulation, which is a lower bar than daily operation but is not passivity. Read the subscription documents and the partnership agreement for redemption rights, guaranteed returns and reserves, and ask counsel whether anything in them looks like a promise of return of capital. An enterprise’s option to buy back the interest solely at its own discretion has a statutory exception, subject to sustainment and the other governing conditions; it is not an investor repayment entitlement.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.