IN THIS GUIDE · Choose between a direct investment in a family-run U.S. business and a regional-center project when the funds come from farmland and a parental gift
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Understand what a direct investment demands
A regional-center project counts direct, indirect and induced jobs through an economic model. A direct investment counts only full-time positions on the new commercial enterprise's payroll, held by U.S. citizens, permanent residents or other authorized workers, and the investor and family do not count. A grain-hauling business must therefore show ten such employees, which usually means drivers, dispatchers and mechanics as employees rather than owner-operators. The business plan must be credible on that point before anything is invested.
Trace the farmland proceeds
The sale of a parcel is documented by the deed, the agreement of purchase and sale, the closing statement, the lawyer's trust ledger and the deposit to the investor's account, together with tax filings reporting the disposition. Lawful source reaches further back to how the family acquired the land, whether by purchase, inheritance or transfer within the family, with the corresponding records. Farm property held for generations may need estate documents rather than bank statements.
Document the gift as thoroughly as the sale
A gift is an acceptable source of EB-5 capital when it is genuine and the donor's funds are lawful. The file needs a gift letter stating that no repayment is expected, evidence of the parents' relationship to the investor, and the parents' own source-of-funds evidence for the amount given, such as their sale of quota, livestock or land, with tax records. A gift that is really a loan, or one the parents cannot explain, undermines the whole petition.
Follow the immigration sequence
Approval of the investor petition leads to immigrant-visa processing or adjustment of status, subject to visa availability. Residence is conditional for two years; Form I-829 is filed in the ninety days before the second anniversary with proof the capital stayed invested and the ten jobs exist. Spouse and unmarried children under 21 are derivatives.
Standalone counting differs from a regional center
Identify standalone or regional-center structure and the applicable method for qualifying job creation, generally ten jobs. A share of projected jobs does not itself establish the investor’s required involvement in management or policy formulation. EB-5 requires participation in management or policy formulation, which can include qualifying limited-partner rights. EB-5 preparation should distinguish the number of qualifying full-time positions from a total of hours paid, using the methodology permitted for the actual case. Establish whether the exception applies before relying on preservation instead of treating every existing payroll as qualifying job creation. Obtain offering, capital-deployment, and employment-methodology documents from the project, but keep them separate from the applicant's financial history. Read governance documents for actual voting, removal and policy rights before selecting a passive-looking structure.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.