IN THIS GUIDE · Testing whether an advertised US$800,000 EB-5 amount rests on a documented qualifying basis before any Kirkland reader commits capital.
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
What the advertisement is actually claiming
Two qualifying investment levels exist: the standard US$1,050,000 and US$800,000 where the investment is in a qualifying targeted employment area or an infrastructure project. An advertisement that names a United States city and then prints the lower figure has stated a conclusion. The classification belongs to the project and its documentation, and nothing in the ad you received demonstrates which basis is being relied on.
Evidence behind a reduced amount
Ask the promoter which basis applies and what supports it: the specific project site, the classification relied on for that site, and the material filed or to be filed with the petition. A regional centre designation is not an endorsement of a project, nor an approval of its classification. If the answer is a brochure sentence rather than a document, treat the amount as unverified.
Your Kirkland address changes nothing about the amount
The qualifying level follows the United States investment, not where you live. Living in Kirkland neither reduces nor raises the figure, and no Canadian municipal or provincial rule bears on it. What your Canadian situation does affect is practical: your status while the case is pending, travel, and where your family will be when a visa number becomes available. Keep those questions separate.
Amounts can move before you file
Statutory adjustments to the qualifying amounts begin January 1, 2027, so a figure quoted today is not automatically the figure at filing. Confirm the amount again immediately before the petition is submitted, and confirm the classification basis again as well. Job creation of at least ten qualifying full-time positions per investor, and the at-risk nature of the capital, apply regardless of which level you invest at.
When the brochure and the offering documents disagree
Ask for the private placement memorandum and read its risk factors against the advertisement that brought you in. The brochure asserts a qualifying basis for the reduced level; the memorandum frequently discloses that classification may change, that the site could be substituted, or that no assurance is offered about how the agency will treat it. Both documents came from the same promoter, and the second is the one drafted to be held against him. Where the two conflict, that conflict is your answer about how firm the claim ever was. Put the discrepancy to the promoter in writing and keep the reply, whatever it turns out to say.
Calling the investment passive is the wrong description
Investors sometimes describe the arrangement as entirely passive, having been told they need do nothing at all. That framing understates a condition of the category, because the investor must be engaged in the enterprise at least at the policy level, and a limited partnership structure can satisfy this through defined voting and information rights. The problem is the description rather than the structure: a file portraying an investor with no role whatever describes something the category does not contemplate. Read the partnership or operating agreement for the rights it actually grants, and make the account of your involvement match that instrument rather than the sales conversation.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.