United States of America
EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
Minimum investment
USD 800,000
Processing time
18-24 months for I-526E processing, plus additional time for visa/adjustment of status; total timeline can extend well beyond 2 years depending on backlog and country of origin
Physical presence
no minimum physical presence required to maintain conditional status, though standard green card rules on maintaining US residence apply once issued
- Investment route
- •Investment in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA — rural or high-unemployment area, 800000 USD) or standard investment elsewhere (1050000 USD)
- •Investment must create or preserve at least 10 full-time US jobs for qualifying workers
- Investment breakdown
- •figures set by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA), in effect since 15 March 2022
- •the program has been reauthorized through 30 September 2027
- •the first inflation-based increase to the investment thresholds is scheduled for 1 January 2027
- •a 'rural area' TEA is any area outside a Metropolitan Statistical Area or outside a city/town of 20,000+ population
- •a 'high-unemployment' TEA requires an area with unemployment at least 150% of the national average
- •only DHS may designate high-unemployment areas under the RIA
- Additional fees
- USCIS filing fees for Form I-526E and Form I-829 (several thousand USD each) apply, plus the RIA-mandated EB-5 Integrity Fund fee and regional center administrative fees which vary by project
- Eligibility
- •18+
- •Clean criminal record
- •Verifiable lawful source of investment funds
- •Investment must create/preserve 10 qualifying US jobs
- Due diligence
- •extensive lawful-source-of-funds due diligence
- •effective 30 March 2026, USCIS moved to a first-in-first-out (FIFO) processing approach for Form I-526/I-526E, prioritizing petitions once the associated Form I-956F project application has been officially decided, with rural petitions given further priority within available annual rural-visa allocations
- Family inclusion
- spouse and unmarried children under 21
- Path to citizenship
- eligible to apply for US citizenship after 5 years as a lawful permanent resident, the same timeline as any other green card holder
- Renewal
- •conditional green card issued for 2 years
- •Form I-829 must be filed before expiry to remove conditions and receive a standard 10-year green card
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted in practice — the US naturalization oath contains renunciatory language but the US does not actively enforce it or require proof that another nationality was relinquished, so most naturalized US citizens retain their original citizenship if their home country also allows it
- Key benefits
- •a direct path to a US green card and eventual citizenship with no employer sponsorship or job offer required, unlike most other US work-based visas
- •annual visa set-asides guarantee availability for rural (20%), high-unemployment (10%), and infrastructure (2%) project investors, which can significantly shorten wait times, especially for rural TEA investors
- Taxation
- US tax residents (including green card holders) are taxed on worldwide income once the green card is issued
Application process
- 1.select a Regional Center project or direct investment
- 2.file Form I-526E petition with USCIS
- 3.obtain conditional green card via consular processing or adjustment of status
- 4.file Form I-829 after 2 years to remove conditions