EB-5 Visa Requirements: Investment, Jobs, and Source of Funds

Three requirements define EB-5 eligibility. Every application that gets denied fails on one of them. Understanding the specific evidentiary standard for each — not just the headline number — is what separates investors who reach the green card from investors who spend five years and $800,000 in a process that goes nowhere.

Requirement 1: The Capital Investment

The current statutory minimums, set by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, are:

• $1,050,000 for standard investments (non-TEA)
• $800,000 for investments in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA): rural areas, high-unemployment areas, or qualifying infrastructure projects

These thresholds are subject to inflation-based adjustments every five years under the RIA. The next automatic increase is approaching, so investors who have not yet filed should verify the current thresholds at USCIS.

Capital includes cash, equipment, inventory, tangible property, and indebtedness secured by assets you own — provided you are personally and primarily liable for the debt. Unsecured loans from third parties are permissible following a 2020 federal court decision, but the lender's source of funds must be documented with the same rigor as your own.

The capital must be placed "at risk" for the purpose of generating a return. The Administrative Appeals Office's decision in Matter of Izummi established that USCIS will deny any petition where the new commercial enterprise guarantees a return of principal through a redemption agreement or buyback provision. A guarantee tied specifically to immigration milestones — a refund if the I-526E is denied — is permissible. A guarantee of financial return regardless of business performance is not.

Requirement 2: Job Creation

The investment must create or preserve at least 10 full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers — meaning U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and other workers authorized to work in the U.S. on a permanent basis. Part-time positions, positions held by the investor or their family members, and positions held by non-immigrant visa holders do not count.

For direct investments, all 10 jobs must be direct W-2 hires employed at least 35 hours per week. This is the most commonly failed requirement in direct EB-5 cases.

For Regional Center investments, jobs can be counted using econometric methodologies such as RIMS II or IMPLAN. These models calculate indirect jobs (suppliers and contractors) and induced jobs (consumer spending by employees) generated by the investment. This dramatically broadens the job pool, which is why Regional Center cases have a far lower denial rate.

The project's economic analysis must show a meaningful buffer above the 10-job minimum. A project projecting exactly 10 jobs per investor leaves zero margin for construction delays, cost overruns, or model adjustments. A buffer of 20% to 50% — meaning 12 to 15 projected jobs per investor — provides meaningful immigration protection at the I-829 stage.

Requirement 3: Lawful Source of Funds

This is the most heavily scrutinized element of the I-526E petition and the primary reason USCIS issues Requests for Evidence.

The standard is not "show me your bank balance." The Matter of Ho decision established that bank statements alone are insufficient — the underlying transaction generating each deposit must be corroborated. The Matter of Soffici doctrine requires a rigorous "path of funds" analysis tracing the capital from its exact origin through every intermediary account directly into the U.S. project's escrow account.

What this looks like in practice by source type:

• Salary accumulation: Five to seven years of individual tax returns, employment confirmation letters, and bank statements showing sequential salary deposits matching the accumulated investment principal.
• Real estate sale: Property deed, original purchase contract, proof of funds used for the original purchase, and the final settlement statement. USCIS needs to know not just that you sold a property, but how you originally acquired it.
• Gifts: Entirely permissible, but the donor's source of funds must be documented with the same completeness as if the donor were the petitioner. The gift must be freely given with no expectation of repayment.
• Unsecured loans: Permissible since 2020, but the lender must provide comprehensive documentation of their own income and assets.
• Corporate dividends: Corporate tax returns, audited financial statements, shareholder registry, and board resolution authorizing the dividend.

Country-specific complications:

For Chinese nationals, China's foreign exchange control limits each citizen to $50,000 USD equivalent per year. Remitting $800,000 requires a multi-year transfer strategy or a currency swap arrangement. USCIS scrutinizes currency swaps intensely — both the investor's and the intermediary's funds must be traced. Using a licensed institutional money exchanger is strongly recommended because USCIS generally accepts a valid regulatory license as prima facie evidence of the institution's lawful source of dollars.

For Indian nationals, the Liberalized Remittance Scheme caps outbound transfers at $250,000 per financial year per person. Additionally, the Indian government levies a Tax Collected at Source (TCS) on remittances above certain thresholds. An investor remitting $800,000 needs to account for the TCS liability in their liquidity planning — the effective capital required is higher than the statutory minimum.

The TEA Designation Rules

The reduced $800,000 threshold is available for three types of Targeted Employment Areas:

Rural areas are defined as locations outside a Metropolitan Statistical Area and outside any city or town with a population of 20,000 or more. These projects receive priority processing under the RIA's FIFO queue system.

High-unemployment areas must have an unemployment rate at least 150% of the national average. Post-RIA, USCIS controls these designations using a restricted census tract methodology. State-issued TEA letters — which previously allowed developers to gerrymander unemployment zones to include urban luxury projects — are no longer accepted. These designations are valid for two-year increments.

Infrastructure projects must be administered by a governmental entity (federal, state, or local) contracting with a Regional Center to receive capital for maintaining, improving, or constructing a public works project. This is a relatively new category with limited project offerings.

The Management Requirement

For direct investments, you must maintain a managerial or policy-making role in the enterprise. Simply depositing capital as a passive investor is insufficient. You must demonstrate direct involvement in business operations — typically as a corporate officer, board member, or general partner.

For Regional Center investments, limited partner status in the project's limited partnership structure satisfies this requirement. You do not need to manage the project day-to-day.

Meeting these requirements on paper is the beginning, not the end. The documentation burden — particularly for source of funds — is substantial, and USCIS applies heightened scrutiny to multi-jurisdictional wealth transfers, cryptocurrency proceeds, and transfers involving complex family structures. The US EB-5 Investor Visa Guide provides detailed checklists for each source of funds type and walks through the path-of-funds analysis that USCIS will conduct on your petition.