Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Identify positions before counting people
For direct employment, a job-sharing arrangement may qualify where two or more qualifying employees share one permanent full-time position. Combining separate part-time positions is not the same arrangement. Explain the duties, weekly hours and position structure with accurate employment evidence. Start with the position itself: a stable set of duties, the permanent role and its weekly hours. Then identify the qualifying employees who share that position and how their schedules cover it. Compare the description with actual employment records rather than inferring one position after adding unrelated part-time hours. Keep the position count separate from the number of people on payroll, and explain any change in the arrangement over time. If a person also works in a different role, avoid counting the same hours twice. A clear account should let the reviewer understand why this is one shared full-time position rather than several separate part-time jobs with a convenient combined total.
Apply the capital and qualifying-worker rules
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.
Retain investor rights and residence conditions
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. 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.
From petition to conditional residence to removal of conditions
At least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers must be created, full-time meaning a minimum of thirty-five hours a week. In a regional centre investment this is ordinarily satisfied by the rights held as a limited partner or member under the project's governing documents, so those documents should be read to confirm the investor actually holds them. Ask specifically how the project intends to establish the required jobs and what assumptions the projection relies on, since a project's branding or a regional center's designation is not a guarantee of either immigration approval or financial performance. Within the ninety days before the two-year anniversary the investor files to remove conditions with proof of sustained investment and job creation. A standalone investor will be producing that later evidence personally; a regional-center investor will be depending on sponsor reporting. Keep one dated list of events with their sources, because the two calendars merge by accident easily: subscription signed, funds transferred, petition filed, petition approved, admission or adjustment, conditional residence beginning, and the filing window before its second anniversary. Indirect jobs counted by economic models are a regional-centre concept and do not apply here. Review the offering terms, business plan, job methodology, risk disclosures and the investor’s management or policy role.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.