IN THIS GUIDE · Ask where the money has been, not only where it is
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Ask how the funds will be extracted, and what that creates
Money held inside a corporation has to reach the investor before it can be invested, and the route chosen — dividend, salary, loan repayment, share redemption — determines both the tax consequence and the documentary trail. Each option produces different records and different questions. The accountant should be asked what the extraction will look like on paper, and whether the corporation's own history supports it. This conversation belongs before any commitment, because the extraction can take a full fiscal cycle and is not easily reversed once begun.
Ask what the historical intermingling looks like
Owner-managed businesses commonly move money between personal and corporate accounts, use shareholder loan accounts informally, and settle balances at year end. That is ordinary practice and entirely lawful, and it is also hard to present as a clean trail years later. The question to put to the accountant is whether shareholder loan accounts and related transactions are reconciled and documented, and what would be needed to evidence the path of funds from lawful generation through to the investment. Where records are incomplete, identifying that early leaves time to reconstruct properly.
Ask what happens if the jobs do not materialise
At least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers must result, and that is proved from what actually happened when conditions are removed. The question to ask before investing is what the plan depends on and what the position would be if hiring fell short. Where a regional-centre project is used, ask how the approved methodology counts jobs, what the investor's exposure is, and what reporting the investor will receive. The obligation attaches to the investor's own petition regardless of who prepared the model.
Ask who will hold the records for the next four years
Approval leads to two years of conditional permanent residence, and removing the conditions requires a further petition on Form I-829, ordinarily filed within the ninety days before the second anniversary of conditional admission, showing the capital remained invested and the jobs were created. That evidence is generated during the intervening period by whoever is running the enterprise. Establish at the outset who is responsible for keeping it and how often it will be reviewed, rather than assuming someone is. The qualifying derivative family members are the spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one.
Read genuine participation and capital rights
The investor must engage through managerial control or policy formulation; genuine qualifying participation rights can matter without requiring every investor to manage day-to-day operations. The capital must still be at risk, lawfully sourced and fully committed before or at filing, and the investor must still hold a policy-making or management role, which in a limited-partnership structure is usually satisfied by limited-partner rights. For direct jobs, review eligible employees and the generally 35-hour weekly full-time standard; investors, their spouses or sons and daughters, nonimmigrants and independent contractors do not count as direct qualifying employees.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.