United States EB-5 Immigrant Investor

USD 800,000 if you invest in a targeted employment area (a rural area, a high-unemployment area, or a qualifying infrastructure project) or USD 1,050,000 for a standard project outside a TEA. These figures were set by the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act and are scheduled for inflation adjustment every five years. Budget additional sums for regional center administrative fees, legal fees, and USCIS filing fees on top of the investment.

A green card. EB-5 grants US lawful permanent residence, first conditional for two years, then unconditional after the conditions are removed. It is not a citizenship-by-investment program. You can naturalize as a US citizen and obtain a US passport later, generally five years after receiving the conditional green card, if you meet residence and physical-presence requirements.

It depends heavily on the route and your country of birth. Rural TEA petitions get priority processing and many I-526E approvals are coming in around 8 to 16 months. Urban high-unemployment and standard petitions are running roughly 32 to 36 months at the I-526E stage. After conditional residence, removing conditions via Form I-829 currently takes around 20 months. Chinese-born and Indian-born investors can face additional multi-year visa backlogs in the unreserved category.

A TEA is either a rural area (outside any Metropolitan Statistical Area and outside any town of 20,000 or more people) or a high-unemployment area (unemployment at least 150% of the national average). Investing in a TEA lowers your minimum to USD 800,000 and qualifies you for reserved visa set-asides. Rural projects additionally get statutory priority processing.

Because rural projects combine the lower USD 800,000 minimum, the largest reserved visa set-aside (20%), and statutory priority processing, which together make them the fastest reliable track. The reserved categories also remain current for every country, so a China-born or India-born investor in a rural project avoids the long unreserved-category line. The tradeoff is that heavy demand could eventually create a backlog in the rural set-aside too.

September 30, 2026 is the grandfathering sunset: file your I-526E before that date and your petition continues to be adjudicated even if the program lapses later. September 30, 2027 is when the Regional Center Program's current authorization expires and Congress must reauthorize it. There is genuine political uncertainty, including the administration's competing Gold Card idea, so timely filing before the 2026 grandfathering date is the conservative move.

No. US law requires the capital to be genuinely at risk, so guaranteed-return structures do not qualify. You can have your immigration petition approved and still lose money if the underlying project underperforms. This is why project due diligence, the regional center's track record, the job-creation cushion, and your position in the capital stack matter as much as the immigration paperwork.

At least ten full-time jobs for qualifying US workers, attributable to your investment, sustained through the conditional residence period. In regional center projects, indirect and induced jobs can count using approved economic models, which is one reason most passive investors go through regional centers rather than direct investments.

Yes. Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 are included as derivative applicants and receive green cards alongside you. The Child Status Protection Act can lock in a child's age while the I-526E is pending to protect against aging out, but the calculation is fact-specific and should be reviewed with an immigration attorney.

Yes. As a US lawful permanent resident you become a US tax resident, taxed on worldwide income at federal rates, plus possible state tax depending on where you live, along with extensive offshore reporting such as FBAR and Form 8938. Pre-immigration tax planning before you become a resident is critical. This is general information, not advice; coordinate the specifics with qualified US tax counsel.

Generally five years after you receive your conditional green card, and you can file up to 90 days before that anniversary. You must meet continuous-residence and physical-presence rules, typically at least 30 of the prior 60 months physically present in the US, plus good moral character and a civics and English test. The five-year clock starts at the conditional green card, not when conditions are removed.

Not really. EB-5 is a residence program, not a low-presence second-passport route. Extended absences, particularly over six months, can jeopardize your status, and trips expected to exceed a year require a reentry permit. EB-5 fits people who genuinely intend to make the US their home far better than those wanting a passive backup residence.

EB-5 is the established, statute-based investor green card requiring at-risk investment and job creation. The Gold Card is a separate concept floated by the Trump administration, reportedly around a USD 1 million figure, that would work differently and has not replaced EB-5 in law as of June 2026. The two should not be conflated, and the Gold Card discussion is one source of uncertainty around EB-5's 2027 reauthorization.

Potentially, but it is not guaranteed and not immediate. Your capital must stay at risk through the sustainment period, and return of capital depends on the project's performance and exit, plus any redeployment terms in the offering. Some regional center projects target a repayment after the I-829 stage, but timing and amount are project-dependent and should be scrutinized before investing.