IN THIS GUIDE · Funding an EB-5 investment with a secured personal loan when the lender proposes moving the collateral onto project assets.
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Borrowed capital is not banned, and not automatic
There is no blanket rule that debt cannot fund an EB-5 investment, and no rule that borrowing is safe. What is examined is who actually owns the funds, whether the capital is genuinely at risk in the enterprise, and what the executed loan says. Moving the security from your own property onto the project's assets changes that analysis materially, so it is a question for counsel before signing. Ask three questions of the executed loan before anything else: who is the borrower of record, what property or assets secure the debt after the amendment, and what happens to your obligation if the enterprise fails. The answers shape the whole analysis. Where the lender's only recourse would be against the project's assets, ask counsel to explain in writing what remains of your own exposure, because a document called a personal loan does not always create a personal obligation.
Source and path, from origin to the enterprise
The record has to show lawful source and the path the money travelled. For a loan that means the credit application, the executed agreement, the security instrument, disbursement records and the bank trail into the enterprise or escrow. Prescribed historical tax records may also be required; do not assume a fixed number of years never applies. A gift used as a down payment carries its own source requirement. Build the path as a sequence of dated transfers with a statement for each account the money passed through, including any intermediate account that exists only to convert currency. Where a transfer crosses institutions, the sending advice and the receiving statement should show the same amount on the same date; where they do not, explain the deduction. Keep the escrow instructions with the record, since they define the conditions under which the funds move on or come back.
Who signs, and in what capacity
Joint ownership may require a co-owner’s consent to the security arrangement under the applicable property and lending law. Have your own legal adviser explain your obligations; the lender’s adviser represents the lender. Separately, the EB-5 business must support at least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor, excluding positions held by the investor, spouse or children. Financing evidence does not replace that job-creation record. Hypothetical example: a clinical biostatistician at an academic medical centre and their spouse hold a property jointly, and only one of them is named as borrower. The lender nonetheless requires both signatures on the security, which raises a property-law question about consent and a separate immigration question about whose funds are being invested. Ask each adviser only what they are competent to answer, and keep both answers in writing rather than letting one adviser summarise the other.
Financing charges and the qualifying amount
In this personal-loan example, interest and lender charges are financing expenses, separate from the capital invested in the enterprise. Confirm actual uses of funds and whether deductions reduce the qualifying contribution. The current threshold is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure project; statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027. Plan debt service using accessible funds, since enterprise profits are not automatically your personal cash. Set out the qualifying contribution and the financing charges on two separate schedules, and reconcile the second against the loan statements rather than an estimate. Where fees were deducted before the money left, the amount that arrived is the amount to compare with the threshold. Confirm which threshold applies on your intended filing date, and note that statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027, so a figure correct today may not be correct when the petition is actually filed.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.