IN THIS GUIDE · Testing whether a project marketed as infrastructure supports the lower capital amount
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Price the investment from the category, not the pitch
Two figures apply as of 7 September 2026: US$1,050,000 standard, or US$800,000 where the investment qualifies as being in a targeted employment area or in infrastructure. The reduced figure follows from the project actually meeting the statutory description, not from a sponsor describing its work as publicly useful. Ask counsel which basis is claimed, on what documents, and whether the file would still stand if the claim were rejected. Statutory adjustments begin in 2027, so confirm figures before a later filing. Ask for the reduced-amount analysis as a document rather than as an answer in a meeting. A written analysis names the statutory basis, identifies the evidence relied on and can be reviewed by the investor's own counsel; a verbal assurance does none of those things and cannot be examined later if the position changes.
Ask who is contracting with whom
Marketing decks tend to describe the asset; a petition needs the entities. Identify the new commercial enterprise receiving the capital, any job-creating entity, the governmental or public counterparties named, and the written agreements binding them. Establish whether the offering is a regional center investment supported by Form I-526E or a standalone Form I-526 case, since permitted job-counting methods differ with the structure. Record which representations exist in signed documents rather than in a presentation. Establish also where the investor's money sits in that structure and what it buys: an interest in the new commercial enterprise, a loan to a job-creating entity, or something else. Capital must remain at risk throughout the required period, so any feature that functions as a guaranteed return or a redemption right deserves close attention before signing.
Keep the ten jobs in view
Every investor's case rests on at least ten qualifying full-time positions attributable to that investor's capital. Ask how the projection was produced, which inputs drive it, and what happens to the count if construction is phased differently or spending falls short. A public-works description does not by itself produce countable employment. Where a regional center is involved, its designation is a government approval of the center, not an endorsement of the project or any promise about outcome. Ask, in particular, what happens to the count if the project is delayed rather than reduced. Employment projected from construction spending behaves differently from operational employment, and a schedule that slips can move jobs outside the period in which they must be created. That is a question for the economic report's assumptions, not for the sponsor's marketing.
Decide what happens if the label fails
Before signing, agree with advisers on the response if the infrastructure basis cannot be evidenced: contribute the standard amount, move to a different project, or stop. Capital must remain genuinely at risk, so no schedule can promise a return at a set date or after a set number of years. Put the fallback in writing, note whether any deposit is refundable, and review the terms again if the project's scope changes. Set the fallback against a date as well as an outcome. If the analysis is not delivered in writing by a stated day, treat that silence as the answer and act on the plan already agreed. Investors most often lose the ability to walk away not because they decided to stay, but because a deposit passed a deadline while everyone waited for a document.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.