The usual I-829 window follows the second anniversary of conditional residence, not a project announcement.
Track the investor’s actual dates
Keep petition, residence and removal-of-conditions stages distinct. Filing I-829 does not automatically remove conditions or guarantee repayment, regardless of the project’s earlier progress.
Anchor the removal-of-conditions calendar to the investor’s own conditional permanent-residence dates, not the project’s petition, construction or repayment milestones. Preserve the immigrant visa or adjustment approval, admission record and resident card for every derivative because family start dates can differ. EB-5 grants conditional residence for two years. The investor generally submits Form I-829 within the 90-day period immediately preceding the second anniversary; confirm exact current instructions rather than estimating from an announcement. Earlier stages still require the appropriate Form I-526E for regional-center participation or Form I-526 for direct investment, lawful source and path, qualifying capital and ten full-time jobs. A project decision neither opens the personal I-829 window nor removes conditions.
Hypothetical example: a Canton of Hatley berry-freezing-business owner entered as a conditional resident months after her regional-center project received a notice. She records her admission anniversary, her spouse’s later entry and all USCIS receipts in one timeline. The project email goes in a separate folder because it does not determine the principal’s filing date or any separate filing date required for a dependent not included in the principal’s petition. Before the applicable window opens, they request evidence concerning sustained investment and allocated employment. Waiting for a developer’s anniversary reminder could produce the wrong deadline; the principal’s conditional-residence record controls a joint filing, while a dependent filing separately uses the dependent’s own record.