Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
The opening conditions in brief
The current qualifying capital is $1,050,000, or $800,000 for an investment in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project under the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act, and the applicable amount must be rechecked before filing. The capital must be invested at risk in a new commercial enterprise. The investment must create at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers; the investor must document the lawful source and complete path of the funds and remain engaged in management or policy formulation. The jobs may be supported by a compliant creation plan at the petition stage rather than already filled on the day of filing.
The conditional period is a test, not a waiting room
Approval leads to two years of conditional permanent residence for the investor, spouse and qualifying children. During that period the capital must remain invested and at risk for the period the law requires, the jobs must actually be created, and the investor's engagement must continue. It is not a period in which the family simply waits for a date to pass; it is the period whose events the second filing will examine.
Residence itself has to be maintained
Conditional permanent residence is permanent residence, and it carries the obligations of that status. Extended absences can raise questions about whether residence has been abandoned, and a family that keeps its life primarily in Canada while holding the status is running a risk that no investment structure addresses. Households intending to keep substantial ties on both sides should take advice about how to do that, before the pattern is established rather than after.
Removing the conditions
Form I-829 must generally be filed during the 90-day period immediately before the second anniversary of admission as a conditional permanent resident. It asks for evidence that the capital satisfied the applicable sustainment requirement and that the required jobs were created and, where relevant, maintained. Much of that evidence is produced by the enterprise rather than by the investor, which is why a direct investor should agree at the outset what payroll and financial reporting will be provided and on what schedule. Make the project decision only after identifying how jobs will be counted and what evidence will exist at the later condition-removal stage. For a direct business, that may mean payroll records, Forms I-9, tax documents, and a staffing schedule showing ten qualifying full-time positions. For a regional-center investment, the method of allocating direct and indirect jobs must be understood from the offering and governing documents. A projected return, redemption arrangement, or convenient exit does not eliminate the requirement that capital face business risk. The investor should also decide who will monitor milestones during conditional residence; waiting until the later filing can leave too little time to understand shortfalls.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.