Minimum investment amounts
| Project location | Minimum investment |
|---|---|
| Targeted Employment Area (TEA) — rural or high-unemployment | $800,000 |
| Non-TEA / standard project | $1,050,000 |
A Targeted Employment Area is either a rural area (outside a metropolitan statistical area and outside any city/town of 20,000+ population) or an area that has experienced unemployment of at least 150% of the national average rate at the time of investment. Most of our healthcare projects are sited in rural TEAs specifically to qualify investors for the reduced threshold and the rural reserved visa category.
Job creation requirement
Each investor must be responsible for creating at least 10 full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers, sustained for a minimum period, within a defined timeframe of the investment. For regional-center-sponsored projects (like ours), this count can include:
- Direct jobs — employees of the facility itself (clinicians, nurses, technicians, administrative staff)
- Indirect jobs — positions created in businesses that supply goods/services to the project
- Induced jobs — jobs supported by the spending of direct employees in the local economy
Job creation is documented using economic input-output models prepared by qualified economists as part of the project's business plan.
Reserved visa categories
A defined share of the annual EB-5 visa allocation is set aside for:
- Rural area projects
- High-unemployment area projects
- Infrastructure projects
These reserved categories generally receive priority processing consideration and draw from a separate visa pool, which has helped keep wait times more predictable — particularly relevant for investors from countries with longer general-category backlogs (see our India and worldwide investor guides).
Basic eligibility criteria
- Invest the required minimum capital in a qualifying new commercial enterprise
- Demonstrate the funds were obtained through lawful means (see our source-of-funds guide)
- Show the investment will create at least 10 qualifying jobs
- Keep capital "at risk" — there must be a real possibility of both gain and loss
- File Form I-526E with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
The two-stage Green Card process
Conditional Permanent Residency
Approved after I-526E adjudication and visa issuance (or adjustment of status). Valid for two years.
Removal of Conditions
Filed via Form I-829 within the 90 days before the two-year conditional card expires, once job-creation requirements are documented. Approval results in a standard 10-year Green Card.
For detailed timing expectations at each stage, see our EB-5 processing time guide.