Read the general immigrant investor briefing overview
An L’Île-Cadieux applicant may receive a recommendation before reading the full project or official gift terms. Identify what facts support that recommendation and what remains to be established; professional confidence is not an immigration guarantee. Ask when as well as whether. The two routes differ most in how their obligations are distributed over time, and a recommendation comparing only the headline commitment has left out the part a household actually lives with.
Retain the complete EB-5 conditions
Current capital is 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 petition-filing-date rules. Lawful source and path, capital at risk, ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor under the applicable framework and management or policy participation remain necessary. Eligible derivatives are not additional principal investors merely because they accompany.
Retain the official Gold Card terms
Processing is US$15,000 nonrefundable per person. The gift follows successful vetting and official instructions: US$1 million individually or US$2 million for a corporate-sponsored employee. Identify intended eligible family initially; each joining eligible spouse or unmarried child under 21 adds US$1 million and US$15,000. EB-1 or EB-2 eligibility, admissibility and visa availability still apply. Corporate terms include 1% annual maintenance and a 5% transfer fee with a new background check, without automatic replacement approval.
Ask for the basis of the recommendation
Write down the recommended route, the evidence supporting its central conditions and the assumptions still awaiting documents. If a project job figure or family amount is mentioned, identify the actual source and person concerned. Ask the adviser to explain an unresolved point rather than converting a positive summary into a promised result. Keep private service fees separate from capital or the government gift. Record who prepared the recommendation, when the supporting records were reviewed and which version of the project documents was used. For a projected job total, separate the underlying calculation from the sales summary; for a promised service, retain the written scope and any stated exclusions. These references make follow-up questions concrete when two advisers reach different conclusions.
Track the actual immigration and financial events
EB-5 conditional residence starts through immigrant-visa admission or adjustment approval; I-829 generally belongs in the 90 days before its second anniversary. Filing does not itself remove conditions or guarantee repayment. The Gold Card gift is not an investment expected to be returned. A recommendation does not replace the applicable official decision. Set the two profiles side by side on a timeline. One runs across years and more than one filing, with evidence of a project's progress accumulating in between and a defined window in which conditions must be addressed. The other follows a published sequence of vetting, instructions and payment, and a corporate sponsorship carries charges recurring annually together with a further charge on transfer. Ask which profile the household can actually carry.
What else is on your mind?
Does an EB-5 immigration review tell me whether an investment is good?Is the Gold Card another name for EB-5?Should I assume one Gold Card payment covers my family?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.