Review the actual employment evidence and the requirements applicable to the investor’s case. Do not assume every staffing change has the same effect or that an earlier plan remains sufficient without current support. The filing window remains tied to conditional residence, not the employer’s preferred hiring date.
Prepare a dated staffing record
Preserve reliable records and explain changes transparently. Seek advice early enough to address the evidence and deadline. Filing I-829 is not itself removal of conditions or a guarantee that capital must be repaid.
Maintain a dated employment matrix from investment through the Form I-829 stage, identifying each position, full-time hours, qualifying worker, start and end dates, and supporting payroll or tax record. When hiring changes, compare actual job creation with the method and timetable in the approved case; do not silently recycle names or assume a vacancy is irrelevant. Direct investors begin with Form I-526, whereas regional-center investors use Form I-526E. The route ordinarily requires US$1,050,000; eligible targeted-area or infrastructure investments use US$800,000. Lawful source-and-path proof and ten qualifying full-time jobs remain necessary. Residence remains conditional for two years, and filing Form I-829 during the 90-day period immediately preceding the second anniversary seeks removal of those conditions. The common mistake is waiting for the filing window before reconstructing personnel history.
Hypothetical example: A Sherbrooke heat-pump-component investor loses two qualifying employees at her direct US factory during conditional residence and replaces them in different roles. She should preserve termination, recruitment, payroll, and revised-duty records immediately, then assess how the changes fit the job-creation plan well before Form I-829. An earlier forecast and total payroll amount cannot explain which qualifying positions actually existed.