Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Identify the real employment arrangement
Document the duties, hours and actual employment facts for each proposed position. Independent contractors are not direct employees for this rule. Changing a label without changing the genuine arrangement does not establish job creation. Distinguish projected positions from those already created and avoid treating a contractor’s historic work as qualifying payroll automatically. Prepare a proposed-position record that distinguishes the existing contractor arrangement from the employment change being claimed. Identify the actual duties, employer, permanent position and weekly schedule, then connect them to reliable records when the change occurs. Do not count the same work twice by retaining the contractor in one total and adding the new employee to another. Separate a signed offer, a planned start and actual employment evidence; each establishes a different stage. If the business relies on a regional-center method instead, identify that method rather than mixing its analysis with a direct payroll count. This comparison makes the staffing claim reviewable without assuming that a new label on an old arrangement creates a qualifying job.
Make the position count reproducible
Separate permanent full-time positions from the number of individuals paid. Explain any genuine job-sharing arrangement instead of pooling unrelated part-time hours. Preserve supporting records and relevant dates so later evidence can be traced to the actual business. Regional-center methods require their applicable analysis; a direct payroll narrative does not establish a different methodology.
Retain capital, workers and participation conditions
Current EB-5 capital is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure project; statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027, so use the amount for the filing. Establish lawful at-risk capital, at least ten qualifying permanent full-time jobs per investor under the applicable direct or regional-center method, and managerial or policy-formulation participation. Direct positions require at least 35 hours weekly; contractors, nonimmigrants and the investor, spouse, sons or daughters are excluded from qualifying employees. Gifted or borrowed capital needs lawful-source evidence and a good-faith arrangement that does not circumvent restrictions on permissible capital sources. Contractual repayment rights and guaranteed rates of return are excluded. An option exercisable solely at the enterprise’s discretion has a narrow exception: its exercise requires petition withdrawal unless sustainment and the other statutory requirements have been fulfilled.
Track immigration milestones independently
Petition approval or payment is not residence or present work permission. Conditional residence begins at immigrant admission or adjustment approval; I-829 is generally filed in the 90 days before its second anniversary. Hiring progress and contract conversion dates do not begin conditional residence.
Engagement in management or policy formulation is still required
Ask which specific positions are counted, whether they are construction or operational, over what period they are filled and sustained, and what the methodology assumes. Reserved allocations exist for rural areas, high-unemployment targeted employment areas and infrastructure projects alongside the unreserved category, and visa availability can differ among them. Where the property was held jointly, through a partnership or in an estate, each holder's entitlement has to be shown and the distribution to the investor traced. The capital must still be at risk, lawfully sourced and fully committed before or at filing, and the investor must still hold a policy-making or management role, which in a limited-partnership structure is usually satisfied by limited-partner rights. Do not transfer a regional-centre economic model into a standalone business as though both use identical proof. A rental portfolio or a development company might be examined on its own facts, including entity structure, capital deployment and the permitted job-counting method, which differs between standalone and regional centre structures. Engagement in management or policy formulation is still required and is commonly framed through the rights the investor holds under the partnership or operating agreement, so the governing documents deserve careful reading rather than a summary.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.