IN THIS GUIDE · Establish the existing job baseline before relying on an acquisition’s payroll
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Distinguish inherited positions and new creation
Hypothetical example: a purchase preserves the existing staff and proposes additional roles. Record the baseline and the actual planned additions. Existing payroll is not universally qualifying new job creation merely because ownership changes.
Assess any exception on its own conditions
The troubled-business preservation provisions have their own requirements and cannot be assumed for every acquisition. Do not impose a universal expansion rule on every purchase either. Assess the real business history and the applicable standalone or regional-center framework.
Preserve investor and worker requirements
At least ten qualifying permanent full-time jobs per investor are required under the applicable framework. The investor, spouse, sons and daughters and nonimmigrant workers are excluded from qualifying worker counts. Eligible derivatives are not additional principal investors merely because they accompany the case.
Keep capital, participation and stages intact
Current capital is US$1,050,000 or US$800,000 for qualifying targeted-employment-area or infrastructure cases, with statutory adjustments from January 1, 2027 under petition-filing-date rules. Lawful source and path, risk and management or policy participation remain necessary. Conditional residence and later I-829 review are distinct from buying the business.
Use the current capital, job and residence conditions
Contractual rights to repayment of the investor’s capital and guaranteed rates of return are excluded from qualifying capital. An enterprise’s option to buy back the interest solely at its own discretion has a statutory exception, subject to sustainment and the other governing conditions; it is not an investor repayment entitlement. For direct employment, a qualifying full-time position generally requires at least 35 hours weekly. Independent contractors, nonimmigrants, the investor, spouse and sons or daughters do not count as qualifying employees; the family exclusion is not limited to minor children.
Decide between a regional-center project and a direct investment
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. After approval, an immigrant visa is issued when available under the Visa Bulletin, followed by two years of conditional residence and Form I-829 within the ninety days before the second anniversary. The investor should obtain that designation evidence rather than rely on marketing, and should confirm the amount is current at filing, because thresholds are subject to periodic adjustment. A regional-center investment may count indirect and induced jobs shown through an economic model, which is easier to reach but places the investor in a project whose job model, capital stack and timing are controlled by others. The route leads first to conditional permanent residence when the relevant petition and admission or adjustment steps succeed; conditions are not removed simply because money was transferred. A standalone case usually means direct involvement in an operating business and direct responsibility for its records; a regional centre case usually means reliance on a sponsor's reporting. Check the regional centre's designation and the project's approved documentation before relying on its job-creation claims. The subscription documents, offering materials and the project's evidence should identify the enterprise, the investor's contribution and the basis for any claimed designation.
Engagement in management or policy formulation is still required
The investor must be engaged in the enterprise through management or policy formulation rather than holding a purely passive interest, which for somebody running a production company is straightforward and should still be evidenced with titles, decisions and signatures. Whether a particular rural or high-unemployment location qualifies as a targeted employment area is a factual determination supported by evidence, not a description the investor chooses. A private placement memorandum sets out risk factors and normally states plainly that projections are not guarantees; the subscription agreement records what the investor actually agreed to; the operating or partnership agreement contains the distribution provisions that determine who is paid and in what order.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.