EB-5: the green card for job-creating investment

The EB-5 grants permanent residence to someone who invests capital at risk in a U.S. business that creates at least ten full-time jobs. Since the 2022 reform, nearly everything that matters sits in the statute itself: the amounts, the targeted areas, the rules protecting the money and the program's deadlines.

It is a path spanning two disciplines, immigration and finance, and this firm works only in the first. We analyze whether the investment fits the immigration rules. We do not evaluate, and do not recommend, the merits of the investment itself.

A DATE ONE MONTH AWAY: filing by 30 September 2026 brings the protection of the 2022 statute, meaning your case continues to be adjudicated under current rules even if Congress does not renew the regional center program, currently authorized through 30 September 2027. Filing after that date depends on Congress renewing it. Since assembling EB-5 documentation usually takes six to fourteen months, that is a date to finish by, not to start on.

The amounts and the two routes

The amounts are set by statute: $1,050,000, or $800,000 if the investment is in a targeted area or an infrastructure project. From 1 January 2027, and every five years thereafter, these figures adjust for inflation, and the targeted-area figure becomes 75% of the standard one.

There are two routes. In the direct one, you run your own business. In the regional center one, approved entities pool several investors into a single project. Since the reform, pooling more than one EB-5 investor is possible only through regional centers. The choice between them determines how jobs are counted, and it is the case's first decision.

The targeted area is defined as of the date of investment. It may be a rural area, outside metropolitan regions and towns of 20,000 or more, or a high-unemployment area, measured by the business's census tract and adjacent ones, with average unemployment of at least 150% of the national rate. The designation lasts two years, is renewable, and someone who invested the reduced amount while it was valid need not top up if it expires.

ONE DETAIL THAT CHANGED HANDS IN 2022: designating a high-unemployment area became the exclusive province of the federal government, with an express bar on any state or local authority doing it. State designation letters, common before the reform, no longer count. If a project is presented to you with one, that is a sign the materials have not been updated.

The ten jobs

What counts are full-time jobs, of at least 35 hours a week, held by qualifying workers: citizens, residents and authorized immigrants. Excluded are you, your family and anyone on a temporary visa. On the direct route, only jobs at the business itself count.

In regional centers, recognized economic methodologies also allow indirect jobs to count, within limits fixed by statute: at most 90% of the ten may be indirect, and the ceiling drops to 75% where they are estimated from construction lasting under two years, in which case the direct construction jobs count in proportion to that duration within the two-year window. The business plan must project creation within two years, and jobs relocated from elsewhere do not count.

The capital, and where it came from

Capital means your money and assets, valued at fair market value, and it must be at risk: a real chance of loss and a real chance of gain. The statute expressly excludes a contribution with a guaranteed return and any right of yours to repayment, such as a redemption option you can exercise. A redemption left to the company's sole discretion is allowed.

Lawful source must be proven for both the capital and the administrative fees. Required are tax returns for the last seven years, in any jurisdiction, records of your businesses, and identification of everyone transferring the funds. Bona fide gifts and loans are accepted, but the donor and the lender face the same documentary standard.

And the path of the funds must be documented end to end. The full amount has to reach the job-creating enterprise, and administrative fees do not count toward the required minimum. A well-built case can show, on paper, every step between the source of the money and the project's account.

A SOURCE WARNING THAT PROTECTS YOU: the EB-5 regulation, 8 C.F.R. § 204.6, is out of date. It still shows the $1,800,000 and $900,000 figures from a 2019 rule struck down in court, speaks of five years of tax returns where the statute requires seven, keeps the state designation of targeted areas that the statute abolished, and describes a regional center program the reform repealed. The USCIS manual itself acknowledges that the links point to superseded rules and directs readers to follow the statute. Anyone researching alone who stops at the regulation's text arrives at the wrong numbers.

The controls that ring-fence your money

The 2022 reform turned into legal requirements a set of controls that had been commercial promises. Each project's capital sits in a separate account at a regulated U.S. financial institution, and every transfer needs the countersignature of an independent fund administrator. That requirement lapses only where the company submits to an annual financial audit delivered to USCIS and to the investors.

Regional centers are audited at least every five years and file annual accounts of all capital and all fees. Site visits to projects are part of the process. And anyone selling the offering, including migration agents abroad, must be registered with USCIS, with commissions disclosed in writing to the investor.

Failing any of these controls has consequences for the regional center: termination, suspension or debarment. And there is express protection for the good-faith investor, who in those cases may associate with another sound project within 180 days without losing their place in the queue.

Reserved visas and the concurrent filing

The statute reserves annual slices of visas: 20% for rural investments, 10% for high-unemployment areas and 2% for infrastructure. Unused slots carry over for one year within the same reserve before returning to the general pool. And rural filings have processing priority by express statutory command, which in practice means a shorter queue.

The reform also created a practical advantage that changed things for people already in the United States: where a visa is available, the residence application may be filed together with the EB-5 petition itself, bringing with it work authorization and travel permission while the case is pending.

Residence that begins as conditional

Residence for the investor, spouse and children begins as conditional, for two years. To remove the condition, a petition is filed in the 90-day window immediately before the second anniversary of residence, proving that the capital was invested and sustained and that the jobs were created. If job creation is still under way, it is possible to show it will be complete by the third anniversary, and the statute allows an extension and a new petition.

MISSING THAT 90-DAY WINDOW IS COSTLY: residence ends automatically on the second anniversary and removal proceedings begin, unless you prove good cause and extenuating circumstances. If the petition is denied, review happens inside the removal case, where the burden falls on the government. It is worth putting that date on the calendar the day conditional residence is granted.

The process may include an interview, which USCIS waives depending on the case, and today presupposes a site visit to the project. The statute expects the capital to stay invested for no less than two years. And there is good news for the longer run: time in conditional residence counts toward naturalization.

Where cases usually fail

Incomplete source of funds: the seven years of tax records missing, or the donor or lender without documented means, or the people making the transfers unidentified.
Capital not at risk: a mandatory redemption clause, a guaranteed return or a contracted repayment.
Capital that does not reach the job-creating enterprise in full, eaten away by fees.
A generic business plan, lacking the comprehensiveness and credibility the review demands.
A material change to the project before conditional residence, with no new petition.
A job count including part-time or seasonal roles, or a methodology with unproven assumptions.
The 90-day window missed, or an interview not attended.
Termination of the regional center without the investor associating with a sound project within 180 days.

Legal basis

INA § 203(b)(5), 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), in full, subparagraphs (A) through (S), as amended by the Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (Pub. L. 117-103, div. BB): amounts and adjustment at (C), targeted areas at (B) and (D), job counting at (E), lawful source at (L), integrity controls at (H), (Q), (J) and (K), good-faith investor protection at (M), visa reserves at (B)(i), and program term and protection at (E)(i) and (S).
INA § 216A, 8 U.S.C. § 1186b: the two-year conditional residence, the 90-day window, the interview and the consequences of default. And INA § 245(n), on the concurrently filed residence application.
8 C.F.R. §§ 204.6 and 216.6, as of 11 August 2026, both predating the reform and outdated on the points noted in the text.
USCIS Policy Manual, volume 6, part G, chapters 1 through 8, with a stated effective date of 18 August 2026. The chapter on removal of conditions still awaits post-reform revision by USCIS itself.
Matter of Izummi and Matter of Ho, as cited by the Policy Manual. And Behring Regional Center LLC v. Wolf, 544 F. Supp. 3d 937 (N.D. Cal. 2021), on the vacatur of the 2019 rule, as recorded in the same manual.
Content verified on 24 August 2026, and the 30 September 2026 date reconfirmed on 30 August 2026. Investment programs change often: confirm the current state before deciding. On investment matters, the firm's work is limited to immigration; we do not provide investment or securities advice.

Verified 24 August 2026. Written from the complete INA § 203(b)(5), subparagraphs (A) through (S), as amended by the Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, and § 216A, from 8 C.F.R. §§ 204.6 and 216.6 in the 11 Aug 2026 version, both pre-reform and outdated as indicated, and from all eight chapters of part G of volume 6 of the USCIS Policy Manual, in full, stated current to 18 Aug 2026. The removal-of-conditions chapter still awaits USCIS's own post-reform revision, which is flagged in the text. Investment programs change frequently: confirm the current state before acting. In investment matters, the firm's practice is limited to immigration: we do not provide investment or securities advice.

General informational content. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Immigration rules change frequently and may be enjoined by a court. Before acting, confirm that the rule is in force and consult an attorney about your own circumstances.

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