EB-5 Visa: US Green Card by Investment (2026 Guide)

Congress created the EB-5 category in 1990 as the fifth employment-based preference. The rules sit in section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)), which the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) rewrote in March 2022.^[2][4] USCIS's Immigrant Investor Program Office (IPO) decides the petitions. The Department of State issues immigrant visas to investors abroad and publishes the monthly Visa Bulletin, which sets out when a visa is available.

About 7.1% of the 140,000 annual employment-based green cards go to EB-5, roughly 9,940 visas a year. That cap counts investors and family members, and no country can use more than 7% of the total.^[4] This is why some nationalities face long queues while most of the world does not.

Status: open. The programme is running normally, with three caveats: the regional center window protected against a lapse has closed, fees rise on 30 November 2026, and the investment amounts rise on 1 January 2027. In its fee rule, DHS says it assumes Congress will extend the Regional Center Program, given that Congress has reauthorised it repeatedly in the past.^[3]

USA residency by investment: what EB-5 gives you

EB-5 leads straight to lawful permanent residence, not a renewable visa. Investor and family receive a two-year conditional green card. After proving the investment and the jobs on Form I-829, they receive a standard 10-year card. Holders can live, work, study and run businesses anywhere in the US. If you only want a temporary investor status, compare the E-2 treaty investor visa. For a donation-based route, see the Gold Card programme.

Direct (standalone) EB-5 means investing in your own business, or one you help run, which must create 10 permanent full-time jobs on its own payroll. It suits operators with a real business plan. The jobs are hard to prove, and you carry all the operating risk. The direct route has no sunset.^[4][5]

Regional center EB-5 means investing as a limited partner in a project sponsored through a USCIS-designated regional center. Up to 90% of the job requirement can be met with indirect and induced jobs estimated with economic models. If the jobs come from construction activity lasting under two years, indirect jobs can cover only up to 75% of the requirement.^[2][4] About 547 regional centers were designated as of February 2025.^[4] Most investors use this route because the jobs requirement is far easier to meet and the investor's role is passive.

USA golden visa fund: how regional center offerings work

A regional center offering is typically a new commercial enterprise (NCE) structured as a limited partnership. It pools EB-5 capital and usually lends it to, or buys equity in, a job-creating entity such as a hotel, multifamily or infrastructure developer. Sponsors normally charge a one-off administration or syndication fee on top of the $800,000. In our review of offerings this commonly runs $50,000–$90,000, though it is not set by law. Returns to investors are usually nominal, often under 1% a year. The real product is the green card, not the yield. Each project must file its own Form I-956F before investors can file Form I-526E, and USCIS takes the I-956F approval into account when it assigns investor petitions.^[3][5]

USA golden visa requirements 2026: who qualifies

• Capital: cash or other assets you own and control, invested at risk in a new commercial enterprise. Loan proceeds count only if the loan is secured by assets you own.^[4][5]
• Lawful source of funds: you must trace the money to its lawful source, such as salary, business profits, property sales, gifts or inheritance, through every transfer. In practice this is the most document-heavy part of the case.
• Holding period: under the RIA, the capital must be expected to stay invested for at least two years. The old rule that it had to stay invested for the whole conditional period no longer applies to post-RIA investors.^[5]
• Job creation: 10 full-time jobs for qualifying US workers per investor, direct jobs for standalone investments and direct, indirect or induced jobs for regional center investments.^[4][5]
• Admissibility: standard immigration checks, including criminal record, immigration history, health and security screening.

There is no language test, education requirement, age limit or business-experience requirement. No minimum net worth is set either, beyond being able to invest and document lawful funds.

One investment covers the investor, the spouse, and unmarried children under 21. No extra capital is needed per dependant. Each family member counts against the annual EB-5 visa cap, which is why backlogged countries feel the cap so strongly.^[4]

Each dependant still pays their own processing fees. Adjusting in the US costs $1,440 per person aged 14+ or $950 per child under 14 filing with a parent, plus optional work and travel permits. Applying abroad means the $345 Department of State immigrant visa processing fee plus the $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee per person.^[6][20] Parents, siblings and children aged 21+ do not qualify as derivatives. Families with teenagers should get advice on Child Status Protection Act age calculations before choosing a project, because visa backlogs can push a child past 21.

The sequence below is for the most common case: a regional center investor already living in the US who can file concurrently.

Petition approval does not by itself mean a green card is available. Your priority date (the I-526E filing date) must be current in the Visa Bulletin for your country and category. India's unreserved numbers were unavailable from July 2026 to the end of fiscal year 2026 because the per-country limit had been reached.^[17][22] In the October 2026 bulletin (the first of FY2027), the unreserved final action date is 1 December 2016 for mainland China and 1 December 2023 for India; all other countries are current. On the Dates for Filing chart, China's unreserved date is 1 March 2021 and India's 1 May 2024. The rural, high-unemployment and infrastructure set-asides are current for every country, including China and India.^[21][22] These dates come from law-firm and industry summaries, because the Department of State website could not be reached at the time of writing, so check the current bulletin before you commit.

USCIS has confirmed that employment-based adjustment applicants must use the Dates for Filing chart in October 2026.^[7] As of December 2024, USCIS reported 12,252 approved investor petitions waiting for a visa, 99% of them from China.^[4]

Concurrent filing: since the RIA, an investor already in the US in lawful status can file Form I-485 together with the I-526E if a visa would be immediately available, usually under a current set-aside.^[1][5] This brings work and travel permits within months and lets families stay while petitions are pending. It is one of the main reasons rural and other set-aside projects attract investors from India and China.

Under the green card test, a green card holder becomes a US tax resident from the first day present in the US as a permanent resident.^[11] From then on, worldwide income is subject to US federal income tax, along with foreign account reporting (FBAR, FATCA Form 8938) and rules on foreign companies and funds such as CFC and PFIC. US-domiciled residents also face federal estate and gift tax on worldwide assets. State tax depends on where you live: Florida, Texas, Nevada and Washington, among others, have no personal income tax on wages.

Tax residence lasts until the green card is formally given up or administratively or judicially terminated.^[11] Long-term residents who later give up the card can fall under the expatriation (exit) tax rules. Pre-immigration planning is essential before the green card is issued, for example realising gains, restructuring offshore holdings or reviewing trusts. The proposed Gold Card "Platinum" variant is pitched precisely around limiting tax on foreign income, but it has not launched.^[9]

USA permanent residency by investment: from conditional to 10-year card

EB-5 gives permanent residency from day one of the conditional card. The two-year conditional period ends with the I-829 petition, after which the family holds a standard 10-year green card that is renewed by routine filing. There is no minimum-stay test for keeping the investment-based status itself. Green card holders must, however, actually live in the US: absences of more than six months invite scrutiny, and a year or more without a re-entry permit can mean the card is considered abandoned. Naturalisation becomes possible after five years of permanent residence, counting the conditional years, but USCIS generally will not naturalise a conditional resident until the I-829 has removed the conditions, so a slow I-829 can push the date back.^[23] See our guide to how US naturalisation works after a green card for that step.^[4]

• Project and repayment risk: the $800,000 must be at risk by law. Check the capital stack, completion guarantees, senior lender, sponsor equity and exit plan. Typical returns are nominal, so the downside is not offset by yield.
• Job-creation risk at I-829: if the project creates too few jobs, conditions cannot be removed. Look for a meaningful job "cushion" above 10 per investor.^[4]
• Sunset risk: petitions filed after 30 September 2026 lack the RIA's statutory protection if the Regional Center Program lapses on 30 September 2027. The protection for earlier filers guarantees continued processing, not approval or repayment.^[1][13]
• Regulatory risk: DHS proposed further RIA integrity rules in July 2026, including automatic revocation of petitions in some situations. These are not final.^[12]
• Visa-availability risk: retrogression can freeze an approved investor abroad for years. Unreserved Chinese and Indian applicants are most exposed.^[17]

Gold Card. Created by Executive Order 14351 (signed 19 September 2025), the Gold Card is a gift, not an investment: $1,000,000 per person (each accompanying spouse or child makes their own gift) or $2,000,000 per employee for corporate sponsors, plus a $15,000 processing fee. It leads to a green card in the EB-1 or EB-2 category, filed on Form I-140G.^[8][9] A $5,000,000 "Platinum" version remains on a waitlist. Uptake has been slow: in April 2026 the Commerce Secretary said only one application had been approved, with hundreds in the queue.^[18] Its legal footing is more novel than EB-5's statute. Our detailed Gold Card guide covers costs and status.

USA business investor visa: the E-2 alternative

The E-2 treaty investor visa is open only to nationals of treaty countries. It requires a "substantial" investment in a real, non-marginal business you direct, with no fixed minimum; in practice this is often $100,000 or more. It is granted in renewable stays of up to two years, and spouses can work. It is a non-immigrant status with no direct route to a green card.^[10] Nationals of non-treaty countries such as China and India sometimes first acquire a treaty nationality, for example through Grenada's investment programme. Read the full E-2 visa guide for treaty-country details.

Good fit: families focused on US schooling and university, professionals already in the US on H-1B or F-1 status who can file concurrently and leave employer-tied visas behind, and investors with well-documented liquid wealth of $1.2 million or more who can accept a 5–7 year illiquid, low-yield position.

Look elsewhere if: you want residency mainly as a back-up plan with little time in the country, which a green card does not support. Look elsewhere too if you cannot document the source of funds, need a guaranteed return of capital, or want to avoid US worldwide taxation. In those cases a lighter residence programme abroad usually fits better.

• Canada's Quebec Investor Program: a C$1M five-year investment plus a C$200,000 non-refundable contribution, with a C$2M net-worth floor, leading to Canadian permanent residence for those who intend to settle in Quebec.^[24]
• Panama's Qualified Investor visa: permanent residency from $300,000 in new property bought from a developer, or $500,000 for a deposit at a state bank, under Executive Decree 17 of 2026 (in force since 16 September 2026).^[25]
• Costa Rica investor residency: $150,000 in property or business, with a light-touch stay requirement.
• Mexico's solvency-based residency: no investment, just proof of income or assets.
• New Zealand Active Investor Plus: an English-speaking alternative at NZ$5M.
• Portugal's fund-based residence permit and the Greek property residence permit for investors who prefer Europe.

For a wider view, see our ranking of the lowest-cost residence-by-investment options, the comparison of residence routes with the quickest naturalisation, and the full directory of investor residence programmes.