The bargain the statute strikes
An investor places capital at risk in a new commercial enterprise and that investment creates at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying United States workers. In exchange, the investor and their spouse and unmarried children under 21 become permanent residents.
The required amount is higher for investments generally and lower for projects in a targeted employment area — a rural area or one of high unemployment. Those thresholds and the set-aside categories were reset by legislation in 2022 and are indexed over time, so confirm current figures before committing capital.
Regional centre or direct investment
A regional centre investment is passive: you invest in a designated project, and job creation can be counted indirectly through economic modelling. It is the route most investors take, and the diligence that matters is diligence on the project and its sponsor.
A direct investment means your own business, your own hiring, and ten actual employees on your own payroll. It gives you control and costs you time. Which fits depends on whether you want to run a business or to immigrate.
Source of funds is the real work
The hardest part of most EB-5 petitions is not the money — it is tracing it. Every dollar must be shown to have come from a lawful source, documented through the whole path from its origin to the project account: salary and tax records, business income, property sales, gifts with their own tracing, loans with their collateral.
Cases fail on gaps in that chain far more often than on anything to do with the project.
Conditional residence, then removal of conditions
EB-5 residence arrives as a two-year conditional status. Before it expires, the investor files to remove conditions and must show the capital remained invested and the jobs were created and sustained. That filing is the one that actually ends the process, and it is planned for from the beginning.
Questions we are asked about this
How much do I need to invest?
There is a standard threshold and a lower one for targeted employment areas, both set by statute and subject to adjustment over time. We confirm the figure in force for your filing rather than quoting one on a web page that may age.
Can my family be included?
Yes — a spouse and unmarried children under 21 are included as derivatives on the one investment.
Can I file for a green card while I am already in the United States?
In many cases an investor who is lawfully present and whose category is current may file the green card application concurrently with the petition. Whether that is available to you depends on the category and the visa bulletin at the time.