File when the closing payment, fully traced and distributed, reaches the applicable threshold. Waiting for the earn-out adds years and does not add eligibility; filing short of the amount produces a denial.
The filing date follows the money already in hand
Three clocks run in an EB-5 case: the date the capital is fully committed, the petition's processing time and, after approval, visa availability for the investor's country of chargeability. Only the first is within the investor's control. If the closing tranche after tax and distribution meets the threshold for a targeted-employment-area project, the petition can be filed as soon as the path-of-funds evidence is assembled, which often takes longer than investors expect because early corporate records must be found.
If the tranche is short, topping up from other documented assets is faster than waiting three years for an earn-out that may never be paid in full. Conditional residence begins on admission or adjustment, not on approval, and the I-829 window opens ninety days before its second anniversary. Diary that window when residence is granted, because commercial distractions during the two years are the usual reason it is missed.