IN THIS GUIDE · Test a project’s commercial promises against the investor’s actual EB-5 obligations
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Establish the individual contribution and applicable threshold
As of September 2026, EB-5 ordinarily requires US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure investment. Statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027 under filing-date rules. Trace lawful source and path, including good-faith gifts or loans that do not circumvent the capital rules. The investor’s qualifying contribution cannot simply be inferred from the total project budget.
Read the capital rights before accepting the exit description
Capital must be committed at risk. Contractual investor repayment rights and guaranteed rates of return are excluded. A statutory exception concerns a buyback solely at the enterprise’s discretion; exercising that option requires petition withdrawal unless the applicable sustainment and other requirements have been fulfilled. An expected commercial exit is not a promise of immigration approval or a right to recover the investment on a chosen date.
Connect customer demand to qualifying jobs and participation
At least ten qualifying permanent full-time jobs per investor are required under the applicable standalone or regional-centre framework. 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. A signed customer agreement may support a business explanation, but is not itself ten qualifying jobs. The investor must participate in management or policy formulation; qualifying limited-partner rights can satisfy this without daily operating work.
Separate business performance from the residence sequence
Conditional residence begins with immigrant admission or adjustment approval, not the investment transfer or petition filing. I-829 ordinarily is filed in the 90 days before the second anniversary of conditional residence. Filing alone neither removes conditions nor triggers repayment. Eligible accompanying derivatives do not require another principal investment merely to join; age protection, admissibility and visa availability still need the actual individual assessment.
Decide between a regional-center project and a direct investment
At least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers must be created, full-time meaning a minimum of thirty-five hours a week. In a regional-center project, indirect and induced jobs modelled by an economist may be counted. The statutory investment is one million and fifty thousand dollars, reduced to eight hundred thousand dollars where the investment is in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project, under the 2022 reform legislation. A migration agent introducing a project, a sponsor's counsel, and an independent lawyer engaged by the applicant occupy different positions, and referral arrangements may exist. Ask the operator for the hours-based roster before committing, decide whether the direct or regional-centre structure fits the actual workforce, and keep the two-year residence period and the removal petition on a calendar from the day residence is granted. The investor should obtain that designation evidence rather than rely on marketing, and should confirm the amount is current at filing, because thresholds are subject to periodic adjustment. Read the offering's job-creation methodology and ask how many investors share the same jobs; a project that has oversubscribed its job count is a risk to every investor in it. A regional-center filing should identify the relevant offering documents, economic report and how the project allocates jobs.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.
- USCIS — EB-5 investor program
- USCIS — business and investment visa overview
- USCIS — Child Status Protection Act
- Department of State — Visa Bulletin
- USCIS — fee schedule
- 8 USC 1153(b)(5) — investor capital and adjustment provisions
- USCIS — Form I-829
- USCIS Policy Manual — EB-5 eligibility
- Department of State — after the immigrant visa interview