IN THIS GUIDE · Conditional residence is residence, and rotational work tests that
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Permanent residence carries a residence expectation
Hypothetical example: a Conception Bay South household considers a regional centre investment while the offshore-energy engineer expects to continue a rotational schedule based out of Canada. Permanent residence is granted to people who intend to live in the United States, and extended absences can raise questions about whether that residence has been maintained or abandoned. A rotational pattern with a Canadian base is precisely the arrangement that invites those questions, and it should be examined before capital is committed, not after arrival.
A regional centre investor still has obligations
Investing through a regional centre generally means holding a limited partnership or similar interest, and the rights attached to that position ordinarily satisfy the requirement that the investor be engaged in the management or policy formulation of the enterprise. It does not mean passivity is safe in other respects. For a petition filed on or after March 15, 2022, the capital must be expected to remain invested and at risk for at least two years, generally measured by USCIS from the date the full qualifying investment is made and placed at risk; pre-RIA petitions remain subject to the prior conditional-residence sustainment rule. Job creation must actually occur under the approved methodology, and the investor must be in a position to evidence the applicable requirements when Form I-829 is filed.
Ten jobs, and who counts as a qualifying worker
The enterprise must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying United States workers: United States citizens or nationals, lawful permanent residents, and other immigrants lawfully authorised to work, excluding the investor, spouse, sons and daughters. In a regional centre project, indirect and induced jobs may be counted under the applicable methodology; in a direct investment they generally may not. Read the project's economic report to understand which jobs are being counted and on what assumptions, since that report is what the eventual condition removal depends on.
Two years, with Form I-829 filed in the 90 days before the second anniversary
Approval produces conditional permanent residence for the investor, the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one. Near the end of the two-year period the investor files Form I-829 with evidence that the applicable capital-sustainment requirement was met and that the required jobs were created or will be created within a reasonable time. Both the residence question and the project's performance are live throughout that period, which is why the household's actual living arrangements should be planned as carefully as the investment.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.