IN THIS GUIDE · Prepare for the two-year condition and the I-829 filing from the day the EB-5 investment is made
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
What conditional residence is and how long it lasts
An approved EB-5 investor and the derivative family members are admitted as conditional permanent residents for two years. During that period they hold all the rights of permanent residents, including the freedom to work, study and travel, subject to the residence obligation. In the ninety days before the second anniversary of admission, the investor must file Form I-829 to remove the conditions. Failure to file in that window terminates the conditional residence automatically, though a late filing may be accepted for good cause. While a timely I-829 is pending, residence continues and is documented by the receipt notice, which extends the permanent resident card, so the family remains lawfully present even if adjudication takes longer than the two years. The family should calendar the filing window from the admission date on the resident card and keep the receipt notice with travel documents; the window is not measured from the investment transfer or business opening.
What must be shown at the I-829 stage
The removal petition must show that the investor invested or was actively in the process of investing the required capital, that the investment was sustained throughout the period of conditional residence, and that the enterprise created or can be expected to create within a reasonable time at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers. For a direct investment in an operating cidery, the evidence is the company’s tax returns, bank statements showing the capital deployed, audited or reviewed financial statements, and payroll records with Forms I-9 and quarterly wage reports for each employee. Qualifying workers are U.S. citizens, permanent residents and other authorized workers, not the investors themselves or their family. Full-time means at least thirty-five hours per week. A first I-829 review should match each worker’s hours, start date and work authorization to payroll records, then identify any vacancy or part-time role before the filing window narrows.
If the jobs fall short, or the business changes
The regulation allows removal of conditions where jobs will be created within a reasonable time after the two years, so a documented, credible hiring plan that is nearly complete can succeed; a plan that has stalled cannot. Material changes to the business after the initial petition, such as moving from cider to distilled spirits, are assessed under USCIS policy, which is more tolerant of change after conditional residence begins than before. Under the 2022 Act the capital must be sustained for a minimum period tied to the investment date rather than to the whole conditional period, and current guidance should be checked. The cider business is not required to be profitable, but the capital must remain at risk in it, so the couple should not withdraw their money as the second anniversary approaches. If hiring is delayed, contemporaneous contracts, orders, budgets and recruiting records matter because they show why the remaining jobs are reasonably expected, rather than simply predicted after the deadline.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.