IN THIS GUIDE · Keep qualifying capital separate from project charges
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Reconcile the requested payment with the actual investment
Hypothetical example: a project sends a single funding schedule with an investment amount and administrative charge. Identify the actual capital committed at risk and each separate expense. Do not automatically count every payment toward the required investment or describe the total as a protected deposit.
Confirm the applicable amount and project basis
The relevant capital threshold depends on qualifying project conditions and the filing date. Review the actual basis for any reduced amount. EB-5 generally requires at least ten qualifying permanent full-time jobs under the applicable standalone or regional-center method; paying the requested sum does not alone establish those jobs.
Support the investor’s own source and path
Document how the individual lawfully obtained and transferred the funds, including genuine financing and intermediaries. A receipt establishes a transaction but does not by itself establish its full lawful source. The project’s evidence and the investor’s evidence serve different purposes.
Keep financial completion apart from residence
A petition does not confer residence. Applicable immigrant-visa admission or adjustment approval establishes conditional residence, with later removal-of-conditions requirements. Review visa availability, admissibility and family eligibility individually. Payment dates and projected capital return do not guarantee those outcomes.
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 investor must show that the new commercial enterprise will create at least ten full-time positions, meaning at least 35 hours a week, for US citizens, permanent residents or other qualifying workers. Unlike a regional-center project, a standalone acquisition or expansion must show the qualifying jobs as the enterprise's own direct, full-time employees, documented through payroll, tax and personnel records rather than an economic-impact study. Where the investment is through a designated regional centre, methodologies for counting certain indirect employment may apply, and the reports supporting that counting come from the project rather than from the investor. Direct full time generally means at least 35 hours weekly; contractors, nonimmigrants, the investor, spouse and sons or daughters are excluded. A promise of a low-risk investment or a guaranteed immigration outcome should never substitute for reading the actual offering and subscription documents, and it is worth asking directly what happens to the immigration case if the project's plans change. Add a row for what happens to the investor's position if the project is delayed rather than if it fails, since delay is the more common outcome and the one least often addressed in marketing. EB-5 capital must remain exposed to business risk and the route leads first to conditional residence; job creation is later tested when conditions are removed. Ten full-time positions for qualifying employees must be created, and a schedule that delays deployment also delays the period in which that hiring can be shown.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.