The Gold Card gift and processing charges should be kept separate from EB-5 investment capital, project costs, and commercial risk. These are different financial arrangements and should not be presented as two prices for an identical outcome.
Clarify precisely what each payment is meant to do
The official Gold Card processing fee is described as nonrefundable; confirm the complete current terms for the specific individual or corporate proposal in question, including any additional family charges. Obtain independent financial and tax advice, since a gift should not be marketed as an investment expected to produce a financial return, and neither route carries a guarantee of approval.
In EB-5 the money is placed in a commercial enterprise, must remain at risk through the conditional period, must generate ten jobs and may be returned if the project succeeds; the investor also pays administrative and legal fees and takes commercial risk. Anyone comparing the two should hold that difference in front of them throughout, because a great deal of loose commentary describes the payment as an investment and some of it goes further and describes the arrangement as something the government provides.