IN THIS GUIDE · Resolve whether family funding is a gift or a repayable obligation before describing it as EB-5 capital
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Reconcile the actual funding terms
Identify the provider, amount, transfer and any repayment, security or other condition. Read the relevant records together rather than selecting only the document with the most convenient label. Do not create a gift letter that contradicts the agreement the parties actually intend to follow.
Trace the provider’s source and the investor’s rights
Explain how the funds were lawfully acquired and moved to the proposed investment, with evidence appropriate to the actual arrangement. A relative’s bank balance is not automatically the investor’s capital. Have the true terms and rights assessed without assuming all family transfers qualify or all borrowed funds are excluded. Gifted or borrowed funds must be provided in good faith and must not be used to circumvent the rules on permissible sources of capital.
Apply EB-5 requirements beyond the family transfer
The current general capital levels are US$1.05 million, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted-employment-area or infrastructure case, with statutory adjustments from January 1, 2027 under the applicable filing-date rules. Capital must be lawfully sourced, traced and at risk, support ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor, and involve the investor in management or policy formulation. A family funding agreement cannot replace the project’s evidence.
Keep repayment expectations separate from immigration milestones
Conditional residence begins with the applicable immigrant admission or adjustment approval, not merely petition approval. I-829 is generally filed in the 90 days before the second anniversary of conditional residence; filing does not automatically remove conditions or release invested capital. Do not promise a relative repayment on an assumed immigration timetable. Visa availability and admissibility remain separate conditions. Sequence the project review after the source review, because a clean transfer trail cannot cure a project that lacks the required job evidence. EB-5 capital must remain at risk through the relevant process, and conditional permanent residence precedes the later request to remove conditions. Hypothetical example: a municipal compost-equipment supplier receives a parent’s transfer and proposes a new U.S. plant whose staffing model counts seasonal contractors as full-time jobs. The decision is whether the documented positions meet the qualifying job rules and timing, not whether the family transfer appears orderly. Payroll plan assumptions, the business plan, and project records should be read together.
Direct and regional center methods are not interchangeable
If the offering runs through a regional centre, remember that designation of the centre does not itself establish this project’s eligibility or classification, or guarantee its commercial success. Investing through an approved regional center allows job creation to be counted using economic modelling of direct, indirect and induced jobs, rather than the direct payroll evidence a stand-alone investment requires. Full-time generally means 35 hours weekly, excluding the investor, spouse and children as qualifying workers; direct and regional-center job methods differ. Read the offering documents for how jobs are attributed to each investor, what happens if the project creates fewer than projected, and whether capital is redeployed after the job-creation period. Investors must also be engaged in the management or policy formulation of the enterprise, which a limited partnership interest carrying the rights ordinarily accorded to limited partners can satisfy.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.