IN THIS GUIDE · Building a standalone operating business that can carry an EB-5 case
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Know which petition you are preparing
A standalone investment is filed on Form I-526; an investment through a designated regional center is filed on Form I-526E. The distinction matters beyond paperwork, because permitted methods of counting the ten qualifying jobs differ by structure. An operating business owner should ask counsel precisely which employment evidence her structure allows her to rely on, and build the hiring plan around that answer rather than around a headcount that merely sounds sufficient. Ask counsel which form the case will use and, more importantly, which employment evidence that structure permits, then build the hiring plan around the answer. Owners often design a headcount first and discover afterwards that the counting method they assumed does not apply to their structure. Getting this the right way round saves a rewrite of both the business plan and the staffing schedule.
Check whether the capital figure and the business plan agree
Required capital is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure investment, as those figures stand on 7 September 2026, with statutory adjustments beginning in 2027. A business plan should show that amount doing real work in the enterprise. If ten full-time positions plus premises, equipment, and operating runway exceed the invested sum, the plan needs additional funding or fewer assumptions — not a more optimistic revenue line. Lay the enterprise budget beside the required capital and see whether they agree. Ten full-time positions plus premises, equipment, insurance, and several quarters of operating runway can together exceed the invested sum, and when they do the answer is more funding or fewer assumptions rather than a more optimistic revenue line. Re-check the applicable capital figure if the filing slips into a later period.
Capital must remain at risk, and that is not a formality
Money parked in an account against a guaranteed return does not meet the at-risk condition. An owner-operator therefore needs to trace how funds enter the enterprise and are deployed into its actual operations: payroll, leases, inventory, equipment. Keep bank records, invoices, and board or member resolutions that show deployment as it happens. Reconstructing that trail two years later, from memory and a bookkeeping export, is far harder than recording it contemporaneously. Record deployment as it happens rather than reconstructing it later. Tag every transaction funded by the invested capital, keep the bank records, invoices, and resolutions showing money moving into payroll, leases, inventory, and equipment, and file them monthly. Capital parked against a guaranteed return does not meet the at-risk condition, and a trail assembled two years afterwards from a bookkeeping export is far harder to present.
Separate ownership from permission to work
Owning a U.S. company and having a petition on file are not work authorization. An entrepreneur planning to manage day-to-day operations before permanent residence is granted should ask counsel how, lawfully, she can do so, and what she cannot do in the meantime. Decide early who runs the business during that interval — a hired manager, a co-founder already authorized, or a delayed launch — because the enterprise still has to function. Hypothetical example: an entrepreneur opening a commercial bakery models eleven funded roles rather than exactly ten, so that one departure does not put the case in doubt. She also decides who runs the business during the interval before residence, since owning a company and having a petition on file are not work authorisation. That decision, made early, is what keeps the enterprise trading while the immigration steps run.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.