IN THIS GUIDE · Work out whether corporate sponsorship applies to your own company
Start with the GOLD CARD eligibility and application overview
Understand the two published routes and their amounts
The official page describes an individual route with a US$1 million gift and a corporate-sponsored route with a US$2 million gift for the principal, each with a US$15,000 non-refundable processing fee per person. Eligible spouses and children added to either route carry their own US$1 million gift and US$15,000 fee. The corporate route is issued to a corporate sponsor for one or more of the sponsor's employees and carries separate annual maintenance and transfer charges. The public FAQ does not say whether a Canadian professional corporation may sponsor its owner as an employee, so the dentist should not assume her corporation qualifies or that using it would be cheaper.
Separate the gift from anything that resembles an investment
EB-5 capital is invested in a job-creating enterprise, carries risk and may be returned. The Gold Card contribution is, on the official description, a gift to the U.S. government: it purchases nothing commercial, generates no return and is not refundable. A dentist comparing the two should not net them against each other or treat the gift as a cost of doing business. Nor should she treat the corporate gift as a corporate expense that buys the corporation anything; the beneficiary is the individual. Corporate and tax advisers should address how such a payment is treated under Canadian rules, which is outside the immigration question.
Check the immigrant eligibility that still has to be met
The official program operates through EB-1 or EB-2, as appropriately determined by the responsible agencies and subject to visa availability. The Executive Order directs the agencies to treat the required gift as evidence of specified EB-1 or EB-2 criteria; the applicant must still be admissible and complete vetting, and payment does not guarantee approval, permanent residence or citizenship. The public FAQ does not say that a dentist must first prove a conventional EB-2 case through degrees and practice history, so the current Form I-140G instructions and any official requests for additional information should control.
Decide what residence means for a practising professional
If the route succeeds, the result is lawful permanent residence, which carries residence, travel and tax consequences the dentist should assess with her accountant. It does not license her to practise dentistry in any state; professional licensing is a separate state process. Her spouse and unmarried children under 21 may be included, each with their own gift and fee, and inclusion at the outset is the published recommendation. The West Kelowna practice, its corporation and its patients are a Canadian matter to be resolved on their own timeline.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.