No. A direct EB-5 investment counts only full-time employees on the enterprise's payroll who are qualifying U.S. workers. Independent owner-operators are not employees, and the investor's family members do not count either.
Ten payroll positions, not ten contracts
The statute requires the investment to create full-time employment for at least ten qualifying United States workers. Outside the regional-center program, that means direct employees of the new commercial enterprise, each working at least thirty-five hours a week, who are citizens, permanent residents or otherwise authorized, excluding the investor, spouse and children. Contracted owner-operators who supply their own trucks are independent businesses, not employees, so a hauling company built on that model cannot count them.
A family planning a direct investment therefore needs a business plan that employs drivers, dispatchers and mechanics on W-2 payroll within the required period and can show it credibly. If the plan cannot support ten employees, a regional-center project that counts indirect jobs through economic modelling may be the realistic route. The qualifying capital, US$1,050,000 or US$800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project under the 2022 reform law with adjustments scheduled from 2027, must be fully invested and at risk in either case.