Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Read the purpose of each payment
Reconcile the effective agreements, payment records and actual use of funds. Establish lawful source and path and the qualifying capital at risk. Do not decide every charge’s treatment from its label alone or describe unrelated professional costs as invested capital without a basis. Make a payment allocation before assuming that an amount qualifies. Pair each wire with the agreement clause, receiving account, and stated use; then reconcile source documents back to the event that generated the capital. The petition must show capital placed at risk for gain or loss, rather than a refundable administrative payment described as investment. If a subscription includes separate fees, keep those fees visible and avoid using their total to inflate the capital figure.
Keep the eligibility and residence conditions
Capital generally is US$1.05 million or US$800,000 for qualifying TEA or infrastructure cases, with statutory adjustment from January 1, 2027. At least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor and management or policy-formulation participation remain required. Petition approval is not residence. The investor, spouse and unmarried children under 21 may receive two-year conditional permanent residence as eligible applicants, followed by Form I-829 to remove conditions; I-829 generally is filed in the 90 days before the second anniversary, and filing does not automatically remove conditions or guarantee repayment. Plan from conditional residence backward. The investor must satisfy the capital and job-creation conditions under the selected structure, then preserve the evidence needed to remove conditions after the two-year conditional period. The job file should identify who counts, when each position is expected to exist, and how the allocation avoids double counting between investors. Repayment expectations belong to the contract and business risk analysis, not to an assumption that I-829 removes conditions automatically. Hypothetical example: an investor plans a direct EB-5 investment in a U.S. modular-housing factory. The developer’s invoice combines the proposed capital contribution, a syndication charge, legal work, and a refundable reserve. The first task is to match every amount to the operating agreement and wire destination; only then can the investor decide whether the capital actually placed at risk reaches the applicable threshold. The second task is the staffing record. A forecast listing ten names is not enough if several are seasonal contractors or positions already assigned to another investor. The investor must decide whether the business plan credibly creates the required qualifying full-time jobs and whether the source documents trace the capital from its lawful origin. Approval would lead to conditional permanent residence, not an immediate unconditional green card, and the two-year record must remain available for the later I-829 stage.
Ten jobs, counted the way the requirement counts them
Qualifying workers include U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and other qualifying immigrants authorized to work; the investor, spouse, sons or daughters and people in nonimmigrant status are excluded. The investor must be engaged in management or policy formulation; a limited-partner role can satisfy that requirement when it carries the policy-formulation rights normally granted under the applicable limited-partnership law. In a regional-centre project, indirect and induced jobs may be counted under a reasonable methodology, which is why the economic report attached to that project matters as much as the offering documents.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.