IN THIS GUIDE · Explain an inheritance distribution before tracing the investment
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Establish the distribution that actually occurred
Identify the estate, the beneficiary’s entitlement and the records of asset realization and distribution. Explain any intermediary accounts or retained amounts using authentic documents. Do not treat every estate document as proof of the decedent’s lawful source or assume a forecast distribution is final. The source and path analysis must follow the actual assets and transfers.
Confirm capital, risk and participation
Current general capital is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure cases; statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027 based on petition filing date. Capital must qualify, be lawfully sourced and at risk, with management or policy-formulation participation. Contractual investor repayment rights and guaranteed rates of return are excluded; the enterprise’s sole-discretion buyback exception requires petition withdrawal unless sustainment and the other requirements have been fulfilled.
Separate the estate timetable from the immigration case
At least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor are required under the applicable methodology. Direct qualifying positions generally require 35 hours weekly; contractors, nonimmigrants, the investor, spouse and sons or daughters are excluded from direct qualifying employees. Petition approval alone grants neither residence nor work permission. Conditional residence begins on immigrant admission or adjustment approval. I-829 generally falls in the 90 days before conditional residence’s second anniversary, not an estate distribution anniversary. Filing I-829 does not itself remove conditions.
Read the investor’s rights and financial terms
At least ten full-time positions for qualifying United States workers must be created, and the method of counting depends on the structure. The standard qualifying investment is one million fifty thousand dollars, reduced to eight hundred thousand for an investment in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project, under the framework set by the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act. Whether a particular rural or high-unemployment location qualifies as a targeted employment area is a factual determination supported by evidence, not a description the investor chooses. Where the investment is through a designated regional centre, methodologies for counting certain indirect employment may apply, and the reports supporting that counting come from the project rather than from the investor. A regional-center project may count indirect and induced jobs shown by an economic model, and the investor's role can be limited to policy matters permitted by the structure. A project's marketing materials or a regional center's designation are not, by themselves, a guarantee of either immigration approval or financial performance. The investor must also be engaged in the enterprise, which for a limited-partner investor is satisfied by the policy-making rights the partnership agreement gives limited partners. Read the offering and project documents for repayment, redemption, and allocation terms that may affect whether capital is genuinely at risk.
From petition to conditional residence to removal of conditions
The process generally includes an investor petition, an immigrant visa or adjustment of status stage where available, and later removal of conditions, with visa availability and individual circumstances affecting the actual sequence. The statute requires engagement in the management of the enterprise, whether through day-to-day managerial control or through policy formulation, and the usual vehicle is a limited partnership interest or a limited liability company membership carrying rights that satisfy that test. EB-5 capital must remain exposed to business risk and the route leads first to conditional residence; job creation is later tested when conditions are removed.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.
- USCIS — EB-5 investor program
- USCIS — business and investment visa overview
- USCIS — Child Status Protection Act
- Department of State — Visa Bulletin
- USCIS — fee schedule
- 8 USC 1153(b)(5) — investor capital and adjustment provisions
- USCIS — Form I-829
- 8 USC 1153 — current investor capital requirements
- 8 CFR 204.6(e) — direct employee and full-time definitions only
- USCIS — I-829 instructions
- Department of State — employment immigrant travel