Green cards for investors, and their spouse and unmarried children under 21, who invest in a U.S. enterprise that creates ten full-time American jobs. The eb-5 visa us program, also called the eb 5 investment visa or eb 5 immigrant visa, delivers exactly that. Here’s the whole eb-5 visa journey, in plain English.
Minimum investment in a Targeted Employment Area or infrastructure project; $1,050,000 elsewhere.
Full-time U.S. jobs created: direct, or including indirect jobs for regional-center projects.
Final days of the 2-year conditional card in which Form I-829 must be filed to remove conditions.
Four pillars hold up every case in the eb5 green card program, this eb 5 investment program. The source-of-funds file carries the most weight, and these eb5 visa requirements decide it.
$800,000 in a Targeted Employment Area or infrastructure project, or $1,050,000 elsewhere. Amounts adjust periodically by regulation.
Creation of 10 full-time U.S. jobs: direct, or including indirect jobs for regional-center projects.
Fully documented lawful source and path of funds: the most-scrutinized element of every case.
Investment at risk in a new commercial enterprise: your own business (direct) or a regional center project.
Choose direct or regional center, complete diligence, and commit the capital.
Build the source-of-funds file: earnings, sales, gifts, loans, traced end to end.
File Form I-526E (regional center) or I-526 (direct). The 2022 Reform and Integrity Act added investor protections and, for those lawfully in the U.S., concurrent I-485 filing with work and travel permits while waiting.
On approval, adjust or consular process into a 2-year conditional green card.
File Form I-829 in the final 90 days proving the investment sustained and jobs created: conditions removed, permanent card issued.
The regional-center investor petition, with protections added by the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act.
The direct-investment petition, for investors building their own enterprise.
Adjustment of Status, the green card application inside the U.S.
Filed in the final 90 days of the conditional card to prove the investment sustained and jobs created.
The green card starts conditional for 2 years. Form I-829, filed in the final 90 days, must prove the investment sustained and the jobs created before the permanent card issues.
EB-5 filing fees have been a moving target. USCIS raised them sharply in April 2024, a federal court struck those increases down in November 2025, and USCIS has been accepting the older, lower amounts below while a new fee rule works through rulemaking. That proposal would push the investor petition to $9,625 and the I-829 to $7,860, so confirm the numbers the week you file.
| Item | Fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Investor petition (I-526E or I-526) | $3,675 | Court-restored amount; one filing covers the investor and the family named in it |
| EB-5 Integrity Fund fee | $1,000 | Paid with the I-526E in regional-center cases |
| Removal of conditions (I-829) | $3,750 | Filed in the final 90 days of the 2-year conditional card |
| Adjustment of status (I-485) | $1,440 per applicant | For those filing inside the U.S.; consular cases pay State Department visa fees instead |
Yes. Gifts, loans, inheritances, and sale proceeds all work, but the government traces the money twice: how the giver earned it lawfully, and how it traveled to the project. We build that paper trail before anything is filed.
Nobody may promise you that. The law requires the capital to stay genuinely at risk, and repayment depends on the project documents after the required investment period ends. A project that guarantees your money back can sink the petition itself.
The I-829 can be denied, and with it the green card. That is why diligence on the project, its job math, and its finances matters as much as the immigration forms. The 2022 reform law added audits and disclosure duties that make honest vetting easier than it used to be.
It varies widely by country of birth and by whether the project sits in a set-aside category with its own queue in the Visa Bulletin. For many investors the realistic arc runs several years from petition to conditional card, so plan around the wait, not around a promise. The eb 5 visa citizenship path then follows the usual naturalization timeline once you hold the permanent card.
Maybe not. A federal statute can freeze a child's age while the petition is pending, so many children who turn 21 during processing still qualify. The calculation is case-specific, and it is one of the first things we run for families with teenagers.
No. Regional-center investors can be limited partners with a policy-level role and live anywhere in the country. Direct EB-5 is different: you are expected to actually manage the enterprise that creates the ten jobs.
Clean source-of-funds documentation is everything. Tell us your story: the evaluation is free, and we’ll tell you exactly what your file needs.
