IN THIS GUIDE · Counting ten jobs when the investor runs the business directly
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Direct investment counts direct employees only
Where the investment is not made through a designated regional centre, the ten positions must be actual full-time employees of the new commercial enterprise who are qualifying United States workers. Independent contractors do not count. Part-time positions do not count, and two part-time employees generally cannot be combined into one qualifying position. The workers must be qualifying, which excludes the investor and the investor's immediate family. For a manufacturing operation this shapes the hiring plan directly: the business plan must show positions that are genuinely full-time and genuinely needed by the operation as described, on a timetable the enterprise can support. Prepare a position-by-position hiring model before money is committed. It should state who employs each worker, when the role begins and why the operating revenue supports a full-time position.
The business plan carries the job-creation case
A credible plan sets out the market, operating model, premises and equipment, the hiring schedule by position and month, and the financial projections that make the payroll plausible. The plan is evidence that the investment will create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers within the governing timeframe. Weak plans commonly show revenue that cannot support the proposed headcount or list positions without explaining why the business needs them. Each role and its duties should be described so a reader can test the job-creation projection against the actual operation. Test every projection against payroll, premises and equipment needs. A plan that treats jobs as an immigration number rather than a business expense invites questions that later records may not answer.
Qualifying capital and the targeted employment area
The standard qualifying investment is one million fifty thousand dollars, reduced to eight hundred thousand for an investment in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project, under the framework set by the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act. Those amounts are subject to adjustment, so the current figures must be verified before any commitment is made. Whether a specific location qualifies as a targeted employment area is a documented determination, not an assumption drawn from the character of the district, and the evidence supporting it belongs in the filing rather than in a promoter's summary. Obtain the current amount and location evidence before signing binding documents. A seller's description of an area cannot replace the determination required under the applicable rules.
Engagement in management, and the conditional period
The investor must be engaged in management of the enterprise, either through day-to-day managerial control or policy formulation. Approval produces two years of conditional permanent residence for the investor, spouse and unmarried children under 21. Form I-829 is then filed in the 90-day period before the second anniversary to remove conditions, with evidence that the investment was sustained through conditional residence and that at least ten qualifying full-time jobs were created or can be expected within a reasonable time. Maintaining the pre-investment employee level throughout conditional residence is the separate rule for a qualifying troubled business. Create a continuing file from the start: payroll filings, account records, plus evidence of the investor's management role. Creating that record is far easier to preserve as the business operates than to reconstruct near the end of conditional residence.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.