IN THIS GUIDE · Document vested employee shares as the lawful source and path of EB-5 capital
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Compensation in shares is a lawful source, if the whole chain is shown
EB-5 requires that the capital be obtained through lawful means and that the petition trace both the source and the path of the funds. Equity compensation is an ordinary lawful source, but the adjudicator will not accept a brokerage balance as proof. The file should begin with the employment contract and each grant agreement, continue with the vesting schedule and the statements showing shares delivered on each vesting date, show the tax withholding or sale-to-cover transactions, then the sale of shares that produced the cash, and finally the transfers into the escrow or investment account. Her Canadian tax returns reporting the employment benefit and the capital gains corroborate every step. A summary table keyed to exhibits lets the examiner follow nine years in one page. The first review should produce a transaction-by-transaction schedule that starts before the stock was received and ends at the investment wire. Brokerage statements settle movement of the shares and cash, but tax records explain why the compensation was lawful. Missing a vesting event or an account transfer creates an avoidable gap that a later affidavit may not cure.
Investment amount, targeted employment area and job creation
Under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 the standard minimum is US$1,050,000, reduced to US$800,000 for a project in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project; those figures should be confirmed against current USCIS guidance before funds move. A regional-center investment allows indirect and induced jobs to be counted using the project’s approved economic methodology, and the investor must still be credited with at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers. She should obtain the regional center’s Form I-956F approval notice or receipt, the offering documents, the economic report and the job-allocation method, because those documents establish that the project can support her ten jobs among the other investors. The investment decision is not complete until the project documents explain how this investor’s share of jobs is allocated and when the methodology expects them. The offering memorandum and economic report are the records to compare before wiring funds. A project with a large headline job number can still be unsuitable if the allocation method leaves little margin for each subscribed investor.
Engagement in the enterprise and the two-year condition
The investor must be engaged in the management of the new commercial enterprise or in policy formulation; in a regional-center limited partnership, the rights of a limited partner under the partnership agreement satisfy this, and the agreement should be in the file. After the immigrant visa or adjustment, she and her family become conditional permanent residents for two years. In the ninety days before the second anniversary she files Form I-829 to remove conditions, showing the capital remained invested and the jobs were created or will be within a reasonable time. Her husband and children under 21 are derivatives on her petition; her husband, once a permanent resident, may farm, work or start a business without restriction. The family must plan around conditional residence: residence begins before the later petition to remove conditions, and travel or work choices do not erase the need to preserve the investment record. The partnership agreement, project reports and job evidence become the file for that later stage. Do not assume a distribution date proves that the capital may safely leave the enterprise.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.