IN THIS GUIDE · Protecting liquidity beyond the gift
Start with the GOLD CARD eligibility and application overview
Map the two payments separately
The individual route has two distinct money events. A nonrefundable US$15,000 DHS processing fee accompanies the online application. The US$1 million gift is made only when instructed, after vetting. Treating them as one lump sum hides the sequencing that matters for an illiquid balance sheet: the fee is spent whether or not the case proceeds, while the gift arrives later. Write both amounts on a calendar rather than a single total, and note that neither is refundable equity. Mark on that calendar which payment is triggered by an action the household controls and which by an instruction it does not. The fee follows the household's own decision to apply; the gift follows a step whose date nobody outside the process can predict, which is exactly why an illiquid balance sheet needs an identified alternative source of funds.
Count every person in the household
Each joining spouse and each unmarried child under 21 must be considered in the initial application, and each one carries an additional US$15,000 fee and an additional US$1 million gift. A family of four is therefore a very different liquidity problem from a single applicant. Build the figure from the actual list of people who intend to immigrate, not from an assumption that dependents are covered by the principal's payment. Settle the list of people early for a second reason as well. Because joining family members must be considered in the initial application, a decision to add someone later is not a simple top-up, and a child approaching twenty-one, a stepchild, or a spouse who may remain behind for a school year each raise questions worth putting to counsel before anything is filed.
Keep the gift out of the investment column
The gift is not an EB-5 investment and not refundable equity. There is no promised return, no repayment schedule, and no assurance that money will come back if a case ends without approval. Households used to structuring capital deployments sometimes model it as an allocation with an exit. That framing misleads the reserve calculation. Treat the payment as spent at the moment it is made, then ask whether the remaining balance sheet still works. It is worth stating the distinction directly, because it is the one most often misread: this is not an investment, and it is not an EB-5 contribution to an enterprise. There is no enterprise, no job creation requirement and no return. The applicant must still independently qualify for lawful permanent residence through an EB-1 or EB-2 determination, be admissible, and have a visa available.
Leave room for costs that sit outside the program
Other visa, medical, and professional costs apply alongside the program amounts. Lawful permanent residents are taxed on worldwide income under ordinary US rules, so a qualified tax adviser should look at the asset structure before anything is sold or moved. Add relocation, housing, and a reserve for the period after arrival. A plan that liquidates to the last dollar leaves nothing for a request for further documents or a delayed sale. Decide as well who in the household will hold the reserve and on what terms it may be used, since an unallocated buffer tends to be spent on the first pressing thing. Where assets must be sold to fund any of this, take tax advice before the sale rather than after, because the sequence of a disposal and a change in residence status can matter a great deal and is difficult to unwind.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.