IN THIS GUIDE · Do not confuse familiar Canadian travel arrangements with the EB-5 residence process
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Identify the immigration step still required
For an applicant pursuing immigrant processing abroad, petition approval is followed by the applicable visa process, subject to visa availability and individual requirements. Do not treat the approval notice alone as proof that the applicant is ready for immigrant admission. Adjustment of status is a separate route whose eligibility must be assessed, not assumed from a planned visit. List the notice, the authority that issued it, and the action it actually permits. The critical decision is whether the applicant has an available immigrant-visa step, may pursue adjustment on the facts, or must wait for a later instruction. Do not let a broker summary replace the official status record.
Match the trip to its actual purpose and documents
Clarify whether the proposed trip is a temporary visit or an intended immigrant admission and use the process and documents appropriate to that purpose. Prior uncomplicated travel does not decide the new admission request. Do not describe a permanent move as a short visit to bypass unfinished immigration steps. Decide the purpose of each trip before tickets are bought and keep the explanation aligned with that purpose. The relevant record may be a visa document, an adjustment record, or a temporary-visit plan, depending on the facts. Changing the label at the border does not cure a route that has not reached the required stage.
Keep the investment obligations in the case
Current general capital thresholds are US$1.05 million or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted-employment-area or infrastructure case, with statutory adjustments beginning January 1, 2027 under applicable filing-date rules. Lawful source and path, at-risk capital, ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor and management or policy participation must be established. Canadian citizenship does not replace those requirements. Trace the capital from its lawful origin through every intervening account to the new commercial enterprise or qualifying investment. Then identify which business records will establish the required jobs and when. The first review produces a source-and-path chronology, not just a closing balance or a projected hiring total.
Record the actual start of conditional residence
Conditional residence begins with the applicable immigrant admission or adjustment approval, not a prior holiday or the petition approval date. I-829 is generally filed in the 90 days before its second anniversary. Keep the actual status record so that a familiar border crossing does not become an incorrect anniversary in the family calendar. Put the admission or adjustment record, the anniversary calculation, and the removal-of-conditions deadline in one controlled calendar. The decision is whether the file contains operating and job evidence early enough for the I-829 stage, not whether a petition once received approval. Conditional residence carries its own evidentiary period.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.