EB-5 Employment fifth preference: immigrant investor
EB-5 gives permanent residence to a person who invests capital in a new U.S. commercial enterprise that creates at least ten full-time jobs. The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 rebuilt the programme, setting the investment at $1,050,000 generally and $800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project, and reserving 32% of the annual numbers for rural, high-unemployment and infrastructure investments. Those reserved set-asides are the reason EB-5 still moves quickly for Indian and Chinese nationals when the unreserved category does not.
- Срок
- permanent, with a two-year conditional period first
- Продление
- Conditional permanent residence lasts two years. Form I-829 must be filed in the 90 days before it expires to remove the conditions; approval converts the status to unconditional permanent residence, after which the card renews on Form I-90 every ten years.
- Работа
- Yes, without restriction from the moment conditional residence is granted, for the investor and every derivative. There is no requirement to work in the enterprise, though the investor must be engaged in its management or policy formulation. An EAD under (c)(9) is available while an I-485 is pending.
- Члены семьи
- Spouse and unmarried children under 21 are derivatives with the same priority date, and may accompany or follow to join. Derivatives are counted against the annual EB-5 limit, which is why the effective number of investor slots is far below the headline figure.
- Путь к грин-карте
- Form I-526 or I-526E establishes the classification. When the priority date is current, the investor and family file Form I-485 or consular process on the DS-260, and receive two-year conditional residence. Form I-829, filed in the last 90 days of that period, removes the conditions. Naturalisation is available five years after conditional residence began, provided the conditions were removed.
- Срок рассмотрения
- USCIS historic data for FY2026 through 30 June 2026: Form I-526E averaged 10.8 months, though that figure counts only cases where the underlying I-956F is already adjudicated; standalone Form I-526 averaged 26.3 months; legacy pre-RIA Form I-526 petitions averaged 94.3 months; Form I-829 averaged 10.8 months; Form I-956F averaged 6.8 months. On top of that sits the visa queue, which for Indian and Chinese nationals in the unreserved category is the whole story.
- Годовая квота и очереди
- 7.1% of the worldwide employment-based preference level, of which 32% is reserved: 20% for investors in a rural area, 10% for a high unemployment area, and 2% for infrastructure projects. The remaining 68% is unreserved. Unused set-aside numbers stay in the same set-aside for one more fiscal year, then release to the unreserved pool in the third year. The FY2026 worldwide employment-based limit is 186,317, the per-country limit 28,862 (29,136 with carryover) and the dependent area limit 8,247 (8,325 with carryover). September 2026 final action dates, unreserved (including C5, T5, I5, R5, NU and RU): all chargeability areas C, China-mainland born 01DEC16, India U (unavailable), Mexico C, Philippines C. All three set-asides - rural, high unemployment and infrastructure - are C for every chargeability area including China and India. Dates for filing, unreserved: all areas C, China 01MAR17, India 01MAY24, Mexico C, Philippines C; set-asides all C. The bulletin's note G warns the unreserved category may retrogress or go unavailable before the end of FY2026.
Кто подходит
- A person who invests the required capital in a new commercial enterprise established after 29 November 1990, or established earlier and then restructured into a new commercial enterprise, or expanded through the investment by at least 40% in net worth or employees
- An investor in a standalone project, who files Form I-526 and must create the jobs directly
- An investor through a USCIS-designated regional center, who files Form I-526E and may count indirect jobs for up to 90% of the requirement
- An investor in a troubled business, who may rely on maintaining rather than creating jobs
- The investor's spouse and unmarried children under 21, as derivatives
Требования
- Capital of $1,050,000, or $800,000 where the investment is in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project. Capital means cash and real, personal or mixed tangible assets owned and controlled by the investor, valued at fair market value in U.S. dollars
- A targeted employment area is either a rural area - anywhere outside a metropolitan statistical area and outside the boundary of a city or town of 20,000 or more by the most recent decennial census - or a high unemployment area
- An infrastructure project means a capital investment project administered by a governmental entity that is the job-creating entity contracting with the regional center or new commercial enterprise, financing maintenance, improvement or construction of a public works project
- Creation of full-time positions - at least 35 hours a week - for at least ten qualifying employees. A qualifying employee is a citizen, permanent resident or other work-authorised immigrant including a conditional resident, asylee, refugee or person under suspension of deportation. It excludes the investor, their spouse and children, and anyone in nonimmigrant status
- Job-sharing counts if the hourly requirement is met; combinations of part-time positions do not. Intermittent, temporary, seasonal or transient jobs do not count, though jobs expected to last at least two years generally are not treated as such
- For a troubled business: existence for at least two years, a net loss of at least 20% of net worth in the 12 or 24 months before the priority date, and maintenance of employment at no less than the pre-investment level for at least two years
- Lawful source of funds, documented
- Admissibility under INA 212(a) or an available waiver
Как подать
- 1
Decide between a standalone investment and a regional center. A regional center lets you count indirect jobs for up to 90% of the ten-job requirement; a standalone project must create every job directly.
- 2
Choose the set-aside deliberately. Rural, high unemployment and infrastructure investments were all current for every country in September 2026, while unreserved was unavailable for India and stood at 01DEC16 for China. For an Indian or Chinese investor the set-aside choice is the difference between filing now and waiting a decade.
- 3
Document the source and path of funds exhaustively. This is where most EB-5 denials originate.
- 4
File Form I-526 or, for a regional center investment, Form I-526E with the $1,000 Integrity Fund fee.
- 5
When the priority date is current, file Form I-485 with the family, or consular process on the DS-260.
- 6
Receive two-year conditional residence.
- 7
File Form I-829 in the 90 days before conditional residence expires, showing the investment was sustained and the jobs were created or maintained.
Сборы и формы
| Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor | $3,675 |
| Form I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor | $3,675 |
| EB-5 Integrity Fund fee, paid with an initial Form I-526E | $1,000 |
| Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions | $3,750 |
| Form I-956, Application for Regional Center Designation | $17,795 |
| Form I-956F, Application for Approval of an Investment in a Commercial Enterprise | $17,795 |
| Form I-956G, Regional Center Annual Statement | $3,035 |
| EB-5 Integrity Fund annual fee, regional center with more than 20 investors | $20,000 |
| EB-5 Integrity Fund annual fee, regional center with 20 or fewer investors | $10,000 |
| Form I-485, applicant 14 or older, paper | $1,440 |
| DS-260 employment-based immigrant visa application processing | $345 per person |
| USCIS Immigrant Fee | $235 per person |
Что изменилось в 2025 и 2026 годах
- The investment minimums have not changed since 15 March 2022. The first CPI-U adjustment takes effect for petitions filed on or after 1 January 2027, and then every five years, measured from March 2022. The specific new dollar figures have not been published and are unverified.
- 12 November 2025 - Moody v. Noem, No. 24-cv-00762-CNS (D. Colo.), held that the Reform and Integrity Act precluded DHS from adjusting EB-5 fees in the 2024 fee rule. A partial, EB-5-scoped stay followed and USCIS published a new edition of Form G-1055 on 14 November 2025 reverting I-526, I-526E, I-829, I-956, I-956F and I-956G to their pre-1 April 2024 amounts. DHS states it believes the decision is incorrect; whether it appealed is unverified.
- 23 October 2025 - a proposed EB-5 fee rule (90 FR 48516) would take Form I-526E to $9,625 and Form I-956F to $29,935. Comments closed 22 December 2025 and the rule is not final.
- 2 July 2026 - a proposed rule implementing the Reform and Integrity Act (91 FR 40676) would codify a two-year sustainment clock running from when the capital is placed at risk, plus redeployment rules, at a proposed 8 CFR 204.426. Comments closed 31 August 2026 and the rule is not final.
- The Regional Center Program is authorised for immigrant visas through 30 September 2027.
- There has been no EB-5 Policy Manual update in FY2025 or FY2026; the most recent is 16 July 2024.
- 19 September 2025 - Executive Order 14351 created the Gold Card. It is not an EB-5 route: a qualifying gift to the Department of Commerce is treated as evidence of eligibility under EB-1A and EB-2 with a national interest waiver, so it consumes EB-1 and EB-2 numbers and leaves EB-5 untouched. A Platinum Card at $5 million is advertised as forthcoming and is not in effect.
- September 2026 Visa Bulletin, note G - the unreserved EB-5 category may retrogress or go unavailable before the end of FY2026.
- 20 July 2026 - public charge final rule rescinding the 2022 regulations, effective 18 September 2026. Investors are subject to the public charge ground, though the investment itself is powerful evidence against it.
Где чаще всего ошибаются
- Filing unreserved when a set-aside was available. In September 2026 unreserved is unavailable for India and sits at 01DEC16 for China, while all three set-asides are current for every country. The same money in a rural project would have been current.
- Treating a targeted employment area designation as permanent. The area must qualify at the time of investment, and rural status turns on metropolitan statistical area boundaries and the 20,000 population threshold in the most recent decennial census.
- Counting the wrong jobs. Nonimmigrant workers, the investor and the investor's own family never count as qualifying employees, and combinations of part-time roles do not add up to a full-time position.
- Losing the whole case at the I-829. Conditions are removed only if the investment was genuinely sustained and the jobs materialised; a project that failed after the I-526E was approved does not save the investor.
- Source of funds documentation assembled retrospectively. Gifts, loans and business proceeds each need a documented chain, and this is the most common ground of denial.
- Assuming the fee reversion is settled. The EB-5 fees are what they are because of a court order that DHS says is wrong, and a proposed rule would raise Form I-526E to $9,625.
- Waiting for the 2027 inflation adjustment to be announced before deciding. Petitions filed on or after 1 January 2027 face the adjusted amount, whatever it turns out to be.
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