IN THIS GUIDE · A direct investment means ten employees on the enterprise's own payroll, and that is a harder promise than it sounds
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Decide whether ten direct full-time employees are realistic
A regional-center project counts indirect and induced jobs through an economic model; a direct investment counts only full-time positions of at least thirty-five hours a week filled by qualifying U.S. workers on the enterprise's own payroll. Seasonal crews, subcontracted operators and part-time drivers do not count, and two part-time positions cannot be combined unless they share a single full-time job under the rules. A landscaping and snow operation can reach ten year-round full-time jobs, but the plan must show how, with a services mix that keeps crews employed through the seasons and a payroll schedule for the two-year conditional period. Build a position-by-position hiring schedule showing duties, hours, start dates and the entity that issues payroll. That exposes early whether the plan relies on workers who will not qualify for the direct count.
Trace a portfolio built over twenty years
Capital drawn from an investment account is lawful if the contributions to it were. The couple's file should include the brokerage statements showing the account's growth, the tax returns reporting the company income that funded the contributions and the capital gains on sales, and the records of the liquidation and transfer to the new enterprise's account. Twenty years of statements need not all be included, but enough to show the pattern, together with the company's financial statements for the years the contributions were largest. The path from the last sale to the U.S. bank account must be unbroken. Prepare a source-and-path index before liquidating investments. It should connect income records, account deposits, sale confirmations and the final transfer without asking an officer to infer a missing link.
Structure the engagement and the location
The investor must be engaged in the management of the enterprise or in policy formulation, which a Paradise owner who will run the U.S. operation day to day easily satisfies. Choosing a targeted employment area, whether a high-unemployment area or a rural area under the current definitions, lowers the capital threshold, and the designation must be established with the evidence the regulations require at the time of filing, not assumed from the town's character. Confirm the capital amount that applies on the filing date. Confirm the location evidence before selecting the lower threshold. A projected address or a general description of the market does not establish a targeted employment area for the enterprise.
Plan the conditional period around the payroll
Approval of Form I-526 leads to conditional permanent residence through consular processing or adjustment when a visa number is available under the Visa Bulletin. Two years later, in the ninety days before the anniversary, Form I-829 must show the capital remained invested and the ten jobs exist or will within a reasonable time. For a direct investment that means payroll records for ten full-time employees, so hiring should be scheduled to be complete well before the I-829 window rather than at its edge. Spouse and unmarried children under 21 are derivatives, with ages measured under the Child Status Protection Act. Keep payroll, tax and business records from the first operating month. They are the records most likely to resolve whether the enterprise sustained the investment and the planned employment.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.