EB-5 investment amount: $800,000 or $1,050,000, and what counts

The law sets two figures: $1,050,000 as the standard amount and $800,000 in a specially targeted area or for an infrastructure project. This article shows which one applies to you, what counts as capital and what changes on January 1, 2027.

With the EB-5, you don't buy a green card. You invest in a new US business that creates at least ten full-time jobs for American workers, and in return you earn the right to apply for a green card. How much you have to invest isn't set by USCIS or by any project developer, but by Congress, in INA 203(b)(5)(C).

Still, the number is only the starting point. Whether your $800,000 is enough depends on where the business operates, exactly what you contribute, when you file and whether fees are paid out of the amount. This article walks through each point in turn.

1The two amounts in the law

For petitions filed on or after March 15, 2022:

• Standard amount: $1,050,000.
• Reduced amount: $800,000 if you invest in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA), meaning a rural area or an area of high unemployment, or in an infrastructure project through a Regional Center.

Before March 15, 2022, the amounts were $1,000,000 and $500,000. So if you come across "a green card for $500,000" online, you're reading rules that no longer apply to new petitions.

The law also allows the Department of Homeland Security to set a higher amount, up to three times the standard amount, in parts of a metropolitan area with well below average unemployment. The USCIS overview for petitions filed on or after March 15, 2022 does not provide for any such amount.

The investment is only one of several requirements. The business must be new (established after November 29, 1990, or restructured or expanded accordingly), and it must create at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying employees. You, your spouse and your children don't count toward that number.

2When the lower amount applies: TEA and infrastructure

$800,000 instead of $1,050,000: a difference of $250,000 makes the designation of the project area the most important question after the amount itself. The rules for it are also set out in the law.

2.1Rural area

A rural area is any area outside a Metropolitan Statistical Area, as designated by the Office of Management and Budget, and outside the boundaries of any city or town with a population of 20,000 or more according to the most recent census.

2.2High unemployment

A high-unemployment area consists of the census tract in which the business is principally doing business, or several contiguous tracts, optionally including those directly adjacent. The weighted unemployment rate must be at least 150 percent of the national average. Since 2022, the Department of Homeland Security alone decides; states and local governments can no longer designate such areas themselves.

2.3Where the business is "principally doing business"

What counts is the place where the business regularly and continuously provides the goods or services that support the jobs. USCIS looks at where the direct jobs, capital expenditures, day-to-day operations and deployed assets are located. With a Regional Center, what matters is the location of the business that actually creates the jobs (the Job-Creating Entity), not the seat of the company you invest in.

2.4How long the designation lasts

A TEA designation is valid for two years, counted from the Regional Center's filing of the I-956F project application or, for a direct investment, from the time of investment, and it can be renewed. If you invested the reduced amount while a designation was valid, you don't have to top up if it later expires. When you apply to remove conditions, you don't need to show that the area is still a TEA.

2.5Infrastructure projects

An infrastructure project under the law is administered by a governmental entity, such as a federal, state or local agency, which itself creates the jobs and raises capital through a Regional Center to build, maintain or improve public works. USCIS decides whether a project qualifies with the project application. As a direct investor, you can't use this route. You'll find more on targeted areas and reserved visas in our article on TEA and rural projects.

3The adjustment from January 1, 2027

The amounts aren't fixed forever. The law requires the standard amount to adjust automatically on January 1, 2027, and every five years after that. It's based on the cumulative change in the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) since January 1, 2022. The new amount is rounded down to the nearest $50,000. The reduced amount for TEA and infrastructure is then 75 percent of the adjusted standard amount.

The Department of Homeland Security publishes the new amounts as a technical amendment in the Federal Register. As of October 24, 2026, that notice had not been published. A worked example shows the mechanics, not a forecast: if the index on the reference date were 15 percent above its January 2022 level, the result would be $1,207,500, rounded down to $1,200,000, and 75 percent of that for TEA projects, so $900,000.

3.1What matters for you: the filing date

The adjustment applies to petitions filed on or after the adjustment date. So what matters isn't when you choose a project or when you wire the money, but when USCIS receives your I-526E or I-526 petition. If you file a complete petition before January 1, 2027, you stay at $800,000 or $1,050,000. Complete means with the source of funds documentation, the project documents and the fees. A rushed petition that gets denied won't lock in any amount.

4What counts as capital

The law defines capital as cash and all real, personal or mixed tangible assets that you own and control, or that are held in trust for your benefit and to which you have unrestricted access. It's valued at fair market value in US dollars at the time of investment.

The exclusions matter just as much as the definition. The following is not capital:

• money you lend to the US company, or capital for which you receive a note, bond or other debt arrangement with the company;
• capital with a guaranteed return;
• capital for which you have a contractual right to repayment, such as a fixed redemption date or a put option, even if that right depends on the company's success.

A buy-back option that only the US company can exercise at its own discretion, on the other hand, is allowed.

4.1Loans and promissory notes

A loan can count as capital if you are personally and primarily liable, you own the collateral and no assets of the US company serve as security. It counts only up to the fair market value of the collateral. Your own promissory note can also count if it's properly secured by your own assets and nearly the full amount is due within two years. Where the money may come from and how to document it is covered in our article on source of funds.

5Fees come on top

This is one of the most expensive mix-ups. The minimum investment must be fully available to the business that creates the jobs. Under the Policy Manual, administrative fees, management fees, legal fees, and placement and syndication fees do not count toward the minimum investment if they reduce the capital going to the project. They have to be paid on top.

So if you wire $800,000 and the Regional Center deducts an administrative fee from it, you have invested less than $800,000. That is why reputable offerings keep the two payments cleanly separate. Which fees are typical and what USCIS itself charges is covered in our article on total EB-5 costs.

6Invested means at risk and sustained

Money sitting in an account is not yet an investment. The capital must be at risk: there has to be a chance of loss as well as a chance of gain. A mere intent to invest is not enough, and real business activity has to take place. Under the Policy Manual, forming a company, funding an account and signing a lease do not suffice.

Since 2022, the law also requires that the capital is expected to stay invested for at least two years. When you can get it back, and what that depends on, is explained in our article on project due diligence, risks and capital repayment.

6.1Escrow account

Many Regional Centers first hold the capital in an escrow account. That is allowed if the funds are released immediately and irrevocably once the petition is approved and you have entered on the visa or your adjustment of status is approved. No other conditions may apply.

6.2Exchange rate

Because capital is valued in dollars at the time of investment, as an investor holding euros, pounds, kroner or francs you carry the currency risk until the transfer. If you need exactly $800,000, don't count on today's rate: build in a buffer or convert to dollars early.

7One amount, one business

The minimum investment must go into a single new commercial enterprise. You cannot put $500,000 into one company and $550,000 into another. A holding company with wholly owned subsidiaries is allowed, though: the holding then counts as one enterprise, and the subsidiaries together create the ten jobs. A Regional Center can also pass the capital on to several project companies, as long as it is first pooled in one entity.

Two cases people often get wrong:

• Buying a stake: If you buy out an existing owner's shares, you have not invested, because the money goes to the seller, not into the business.
• Existing business: A business that existed before November 29, 1990 only qualifies if the investment restructures it or expands its net worth or headcount by at least 40 percent.

Since March 15, 2022, pooling several EB-5 investors in one business is only possible through a Regional Center. What that means for choosing between your own business and a project investment is covered in Regional Center or direct investment.

8Visas set aside for rural, high-unemployment and infrastructure projects

The EB-5 has its own quota: up to 7.1 percent of the annual employment-based immigrant visas. Since 2022, shares of it have been reserved: 20 percent for investments in rural areas, 10 percent for high-unemployment areas and 2 percent for infrastructure projects. Anything unused in a year stays in the same category for one more year and then flows into the general pool. By law, USCIS processes rural petitions with priority.

So the area you choose determines not only the amount but also which quota your visa comes from. How that affects waiting times is explained in our article on processing times, the Visa Bulletin and the priority date.

9When the amount doesn't fit

$800,000 at risk, tied up for years, plus fees: for many European entrepreneurs, the EB-5 is not the obvious route. If you run a business at home that can transfer you, look at the L-1 first. If you want to build and run your own business in the US, the E-2 investor visa offers a route with no statutory minimum amount; for a direct comparison, see E-2 visa or EB-5 green card. And if you can qualify for a green card on your own merits, take a look at the EB-2 NIW.

In return, the EB-5 has an advantage none of these routes offers: the green card depends not on an employer, your education or your nationality, but on an investment and ten jobs. If you have the capital and can tie it up for a few years, what you are buying is independence, not just a visa.

In short

• For petitions filed from March 15, 2022, the EB-5 minimum investment is $1,050,000, or $800,000 in a TEA or for an infrastructure project.
• From January 1, 2027, both amounts adjust automatically to the Consumer Price Index for petitions filed on or after that date; the reduced amount will then be 75 percent of the standard amount.
• Capital is cash or tangible assets you own, valued in dollars at the time of investment; loans to the company, guaranteed returns and repayment rights do not count.
• Fees come on top of the minimum investment, and the capital must stay invested for at least two years.

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