Adding a spouse to the initial application adds US$1,015,000 in program payments: a further nonrefundable US$15,000 processing fee plus a further US$1 million gift after successful vetting. A couple therefore budgets US$2,030,000 against US$1,015,000 for the principal alone, before visa, medical, legal, translation, and relocation costs are counted.
Do not model the gifts as recoverable
Both gifts are gifts. They are not an EB-5 investment, they buy no equity, and no refund is promised if circumstances change. A couple planning a two-person application should therefore write off US$2 million in the household balance sheet and check what remains for housing, schooling, income, and emergencies.
Ask a qualified tax adviser as well, since permanent residence brings ordinary U.S. taxation of worldwide income for both spouses. Model the failure case explicitly for two people.
Assume both processing fees are spent, neither application succeeds, and the larger payments are never instructed: what does the household balance sheet look like then, and does anything the couple has already committed to depend on a different answer. Then assume the opposite and ask the same question of the tax position, since permanent residence brings ordinary U.S. treatment of worldwide income for each spouse from the point residence begins.
Hypothetical example: a couple discovers a planned sale of a long-held asset falls on either side of that line depending on timing, and takes advice on the sequence before anything is paid rather than after residence has already begun.