Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Use a dated capital assumption
As checked September 7, 2026, capital generally is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure case. Statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027; confirm the amount applicable to the actual filing. Do not invent a future adjusted figure or assume a private reservation locks the government requirement.
Keep the complete investment and residence case
Lawful source/path, at-risk capital, ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor and management or policy-formulation participation remain necessary. Petition approval is not residence or work permission. I-829 generally is filed in the 90 days before the second conditional-residence anniversary; filing does not automatically remove conditions or guarantee repayment. Hypothetical example: an investor intends to fund a U.S. facility that turns waste glass into construction aggregate. The business plan forecasts twelve full-time hires, but two are the investor’s adult children and three are contractors paid by another company. She must decide whether the remaining positions meet the applicable job-creation method before treating the project as an EB-5 solution. The subscription or operating agreement, offering documents, economic report where relevant, payroll assumptions, ownership records, and source-and-path documents settle different points. A promised repayment date or a guaranteed return can conflict with the required exposure to loss. If the petition is approved, she still needs the later immigration step to obtain conditional residence and must preserve the facts needed for the I-829 review; neither the approval nor the business brochure makes the conditions disappear. The sequence matters: establish the applicable capital amount on the filing date, trace the investor’s funds, identify the investment structure, and test the job-creation evidence before relying on projected returns. Each stage can fail independently. A complete bank trail does not turn unsuitable positions into qualifying jobs, and a credible staffing model does not cure an unexplained source of capital. Keep the residence milestones separate from the investment timeline.
Account for qualifying capital rather than total deal cost
The statute excludes capital subject to an investor’s contractual repayment right, including mandatory redemption or an investor-held put or sell-back option, even when contingent on enterprise success such as available cash flow. The investor must be engaged in the enterprise's management or policy formulation rather than holding a passive interest, which in a regional centre structure is ordinarily satisfied through the rights of a limited partner or member. Document the positions and workers under the applicable rules rather than simply adding hours or payments. Qualifying workers are U.S. citizens, permanent residents and other authorized workers, not the investors themselves or their family. A practical entity map names the investor, the new commercial enterprise, any job-creating entity, regional-center role where relevant, escrow holder, and receiving account. In a standalone petition that responsibility sits with the enterprise you control; in a regional center project it sits with a sponsor whose reporting you rely on but do not direct. A targeted employment area designation is likewise a current fact, not a permanent characteristic of a place, and it is confirmed from official data rather than from a project’s promotional map. Asking for the methodology behind a job figure, in writing, before subscribing, is the single most useful question an investor can put to a project.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.