IN THIS GUIDE · A practice sale closing near a statutory adjustment date, and the numbers that will not move for anybody
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Two amounts, one designation and a date that changes both
The standard qualifying investment is one million and fifty thousand United States dollars. Eight hundred thousand applies instead where the investment is made in a qualifying targeted employment area or in an infrastructure project. Those figures are subject to statutory adjustment beginning on the first of January 2027 and at intervals afterwards, which is precisely the window Bartholomew's staged sale falls into. Two practical points follow. The amount that governs is the one in force when the petition is filed, so a filing date is a financial decision as well as a procedural one. And the reduced amount depends on the designation being genuine and current for the project, not on an intermediary describing it that way, so the underlying evidence for the designation should be obtained and read rather than accepted.
At least ten full-time jobs, counted as a floor rather than aimed at as a target
The investment must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying United States workers, and the word is at least. A project whose plan produces exactly ten across its investors leaves nothing for the ordinary friction of a business plan: a slower opening, a role filled part time, a position that turns out to be for someone outside the qualifying group. Full time means the position, not the person, and the count is of jobs attributable to the investor's own capital rather than to the enterprise as a whole. Where several investors participate, the allocation method matters and should be understood before capital moves. Job creation is proved later, at the stage where conditions are removed, which is why the plan's assumptions and the payroll evidence that will eventually support them deserve attention at the beginning.
Lawful source and lawful path are two separate proofs
Source explains how the money was earned or otherwise lawfully obtained. Path explains how it travelled from there to the investment, through every account and every intermediary along the way. Bartholomew's source is a business sale, which is documented by the share purchase agreement, the valuation, the shareholders agreement, tax filings for the practice and his personal returns for the relevant years. His path is a different exercise entirely: the release of each tranche, the accounts that received it, any currency conversion, any loan repaid on closing, and the transfer into the investment. Gifts, loans and proceeds held jointly each add a layer, because the person who provided the funds must then be documented as well. Gaps in the path, rather than doubts about the source, are what most often stall these petitions.
Conditional residence, continued engagement and Form I-829
A successful petition leads to permanent residence granted on a conditional basis for two years for the investor, the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one. The investor must be engaged in the enterprise beyond passive ownership, through management or policy formulation, and the rights ordinarily granted to a limited partner under the applicable partnership statute can satisfy that where the investment is structured that way. Before the two years expire, Form I-829 is filed to remove the conditions, and it is at that stage that the sustained investment and the required job creation must actually be shown. Permanent residence is not citizenship, and it does not become citizenship automatically. Naturalization is a separate later process with its own residence and other requirements, and nothing in the investor route shortens it.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.
- USCIS: EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
- USCIS Policy Manual: Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 2, Eligibility Requirements
- USCIS: EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program resources
- USCIS: Instructions for Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions
- United States Code: 8 U.S.C. 1153, Allocation of immigrant visas
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule