IN THIS GUIDE · Counting ten qualifying jobs in a standalone U.S. business when the draft count includes the investor's own family
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Who is excluded from the ten
At least ten qualifying full-time jobs must be created for each investor. The investor does not count. Neither does the spouse, nor the children, whatever titles the organizational chart gives them. Removing four names from a list of ten leaves six, and six is not compliance. Rebuild the schedule from positions the business genuinely needs, then check the arithmetic again before anything is filed.
A label is not a full-time position
Calling a role 'manager' or listing a name in a staffing table does not establish that the role meets the EB-5 standard. A qualifying position is held by an eligible employee, is full-time, and shows up in payroll, tax and onboarding records that a reviewer can trace. Contractors, unpaid helpers, seasonal fill-ins and split part-time arrangements each raise questions your business plan should answer with documents rather than adjectives.
Standalone counting differs from a regional center
A standalone investment is filed on Form I-526; a regional center investment is filed on Form I-526E. The permitted methods of counting jobs are not identical between the two, so a model borrowed from a regional center offering may not support a direct operating company. Decide which structure you are actually in before you decide how the ten positions will be demonstrated.
Capital, amount and at-risk placement
The qualifying investment is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a targeted employment area or infrastructure project, with statutory adjustments beginning January 1, 2027 — recheck the figure before a later filing. Capital must be at risk in the business, not parked to look invested, and its lawful source and full path must be documented. Counsel reviews how those facts fit your specific company.
Establish which enterprise description fits before counting
Buying an American company does not by itself produce a new commercial enterprise, and the distinction governs everything downstream. Capital placed into an enterprise formed for the investment is assessed differently from capital placed into an existing business that is then restructured or expanded, and differently again where the target is a troubled business, for which a standard resting on preserving existing positions can apply instead of one resting on creating new ones. Settle which description fits before a job schedule is written, since the counting rule follows from the description rather than the other way round. Counsel should confirm which standard governs the specific company on the table.
Read this route against a temporary treaty investment
Applicants often arrive having priced only one of two routes that look alike from a distance. A treaty investment produces temporary status tied to the enterprise, renewable while the enterprise lasts, with no fixed job count but a requirement that the business not be marginal. This route produces conditional permanent residence, carries a defined job-creation requirement, and ends with a petition to remove conditions that tests what actually happened rather than what was projected. Nationality separates them further, since the treaty route depends on holding a treaty country's nationality while this one does not. Decide which outcome the household actually wants before any comparison of cost is meaningful.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.