Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
The two amounts, and the date on which they move
The qualifying investment is US$1,050,000, reduced to US$800,000 where the capital goes into a targeted employment area or into a qualifying infrastructure project. A targeted employment area means a rural area or one experiencing high unemployment, and the designation belongs to the location of the new commercial enterprise rather than to the investor's preference; it is a matter of evidence and has a limited validity period, so a claim in a marketing deck is not a designation. Under the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act these figures are subject to statutory adjustment beginning on 1 January 2027, which means the number applicable to Hélène depends on when her petition is filed rather than on when she first read about the programme. Current amounts should be confirmed from the official source before any transfer is arranged.
Ten jobs, counted as full-time positions for qualifying workers
The capital must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying United States workers, and the word full-time carries a defined meaning of at least thirty-five hours a week; two part-time roles cannot be added together to make one. Qualifying workers are U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and others authorized to be employed, and the investor, the investor's spouse and their children do not count toward the ten. The jobs are ordinarily to be created within the two-year conditional period, which is why the timetable of the underlying project matters so much more than its brochure. Where the investment is made through a regional centre, certain indirect and induced jobs may be counted under statutory methodologies, and where it is a direct investment the ten positions generally have to exist on the enterprise's own payroll.
Signing a cheque is not engagement; management or policy formulation is
The regulation requires the investor to be engaged in the new commercial enterprise, and it defines that engagement as participation in management or in policy formulation rather than as passive holding. That does not mean Hélène has to move into an office and run the business day to day. It does mean the structure must give her a genuine role: participation in policy through a limited partnership interest with the rights that ordinarily attach to a limited partner, membership rights in a limited liability company carrying voting or policy participation, a seat on a board, or an actual management position in a direct investment. A broker who describes the arrangement as entirely passive is describing something the classification does not permit, and the correct response is to read the partnership or operating agreement to see what participation rights it actually confers.
Two demands about the money: where it came from and how it travelled
Lawful source and lawful path are separate showings and are examined closely. Source asks how the funds were lawfully earned or acquired — in Hélène's case the sale of a business she built, evidenced by the share purchase agreement, the valuation, the closing statement, corporate records and years of tax filings for both her and the company. Path asks how the money moved from that origin to the enterprise, through which accounts, in which currencies and by which instruments, with statements showing each step and explanations for anything that looks unusual. Funds routed through a third party, an intermediary company, a family member or a currency service require their own documentation, and a gift or loan brings the donor's or lender's own source into the file. Cases stall on gaps in the path far more often than on doubts about the source.
Conditional residence, the derivatives, and Form I-829
A successful investor and qualifying family members receive permanent residence on a conditional basis for two years. Derivatives are the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, and that age limit is why Hélène's daughter needs attention now rather than later: eligibility is assessed on the rules that apply to her at the relevant time, and a birthday that arrives during a long process can end her inclusion. To remove the conditions, the investor files Form I-829, generally within the ninety days before the second anniversary of obtaining conditional residence, showing that the investment was sustained and that the required jobs were created or will be created within a reasonable time. Permanent residence is not citizenship; naturalization is a separate process with its own residence, presence and eligibility requirements, and it cannot be completed while the residence is still conditional, although time already spent in conditional residence counts toward the residence requirement.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.