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COQUITLAM · EB-5 FIELD GUIDE

Does the relative who funds the investment gain any status?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. Providing capital does not give a donor immigration status or a place in the application. Only the petitioning investor and eligible derivatives — a spouse and unmarried children under 21 — are included, each assessed individually. If a parent hopes to move as well, that is a separate matter requiring its own advice.

Set expectations within the family early

Say plainly who is on the application and who is not, so nobody assumes that funding the investment secures their own move. Where a child is close to twenty-one, ask counsel how their age would be assessed on these facts rather than relying on a rule of thumb. Confirm also that nobody plans to work in or travel to the United States on the strength of a pending petition.

Add one further expectation to manage within the family: what conditional residence actually involves for those who are on the application. Approval leads to conditional permanent residence, followed later by a petition to remove those conditions, which must show that the capital remained at risk and that the required jobs were created. That is a multi-year obligation rather than a formality, and it depends partly on a project the family does not control.

Say so plainly to everyone who is planning around it. Hypothetical example: a household assumes the process ends at admission and learns instead that a further filing sits two years out, which changes how they think about a business abroad, a property sale, and a child's choice of school.