IN THIS GUIDE · Explain a revised job forecast without treating it as completed employment
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Identify the changed assumption
Hypothetical example: a project delays one operating phase. Ask which employment assumptions depended on that phase and which records support the current analysis. A revised report should explain its inputs rather than simply preserve an earlier total.
Use the applicable employment framework
At least ten qualifying permanent full-time jobs per investor are required under the applicable standalone or regional-center rules. Direct full-time positions generally require at least 35 hours weekly; unrelated part-time positions cannot simply be added together. Investor, spouse, children and nonimmigrant workers are excluded from qualifying worker counts.
Preserve capital and participation requirements
Current capital is US$1,050,000 or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted-employment-area or infrastructure case, with statutory adjustments from January 1, 2027 under petition-filing-date rules. Lawful source and path, risk and management or policy participation remain necessary regardless of a forecast revision.
Connect the report to the actual stage
A petition does not itself grant residence. Immigrant-visa admission or adjustment approval starts conditional residence. The I-829 window is generally the 90 days before its second anniversary. Assess actual stage-specific requirements; an updated forecast is not automatic proof that conditions will be removed.
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. Independent contractors cannot be treated as direct qualifying employees.
Decide between a regional-center project and a direct investment
The qualifying investment is one million and fifty thousand United States dollars, reduced to eight hundred thousand where the enterprise is principally doing business in a targeted employment area or is an infrastructure project. If the investment involves a business connected to the family or local community, still obtain independent legal and financial review of the offering terms, fees, and risks, rather than relying on informal trust in people who are already known to the investor. The investor must be engaged in the management of the new commercial enterprise, either through day-to-day managerial control or through policy formulation, and holding the rights ordinarily accorded to a limited partner or equivalent member is generally accepted for this purpose. A project's marketing materials or a regional center designation are not themselves a guarantee of either immigration approval or financial performance. Within the ninety days before the second anniversary, Form I-829 must be filed showing the capital remained invested and the jobs were created or will be within a reasonable time. In a regional-center investment, certain indirect and induced jobs may count under an economic methodology, which changes the evidence but does not remove the requirement. Read the offering's job-creation methodology and ask how many investors share the same jobs; a project that has oversubscribed its job count is a risk to every investor in it. An investor must decide whether the project’s direct or regional-centre structure supplies a supportable job method for that investor.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.