US$1,050,000 is the standard qualifying investment, reduced to US$800,000 where the project is in a qualifying targeted employment area or is a qualifying infrastructure project, with statutory adjustment beginning 1 January 2027. Each investor's capital must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying employees.
Two numbers, and neither of them is negotiable
The amount and the job count are the structural requirements around which everything else is arranged. Take the amount first. The reduced figure exists for particular kinds of projects, and whether a project qualifies is a question of evidence about the area or the infrastructure involved, tested against the statutory criteria rather than accepted from an offering document.
Yolande should have that verified independently before committing, because the difference between the two figures is the difference between two very different transactions. The job requirement is equally concrete: at least ten positions, each of at least thirty-five hours a week, filled by United States citizens, lawful permanent residents or other work-authorized immigrants. Her own family members do not count towards the total.
If she invests directly rather than through a regional centre, she is undertaking to produce ten actual payroll positions, which is a commitment about the business itself, not merely about the money.
- USCIS: EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
- 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5), employment creation immigrants and capital adjustment provisions
- USCIS: Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status
- USCIS: Child Status Protection Act
- U.S. Department of State: Visa Bulletin
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule