EB-5 Investor Visa Eligibility Test

What the EB-5 eligibility test does

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program is the United States' investment route to a green card: a foreign national who makes a qualifying at-risk investment that creates American jobs can obtain lawful permanent residency and, in time, citizenship. This tool is a fast, six-question triage that tells you whether that route is realistic for your circumstances before you spend money on legal fees or project due diligence. It is built for people weighing US residency against other options on our citizenship and residency hub, and it mirrors the logic an adviser uses in a first conversation. For the programme in full, see our EB-5 programme overview.

How the six-step test works

The checker asks six questions in sequence — your immigration status, your available investment capital, your preferred investment type, whether you can document a lawful source of funds, your comfort with the timeline, and your primary goal. It then applies a simple priority order rather than a points score, so the first genuine obstacle it finds shapes your result:

• Status first. EB-5 exists to confer permanent residency, so US citizens and existing green-card holders are flagged as "not applicable" — they already hold what the programme grants.
• Capital next. If your available funds are under $800,000, the test returns "below investment threshold", because $800,000 is the current statutory floor for a Targeted Employment Area (TEA) project.
• Timeline. If you tell it you need something faster, it steers you toward alternative programmes — EB-5 is one of the slower routes, and a mismatch on timing is a legitimate reason to look elsewhere.
• Source of funds. If documenting the lawful origin of your capital may be challenging, the result becomes "partial eligibility — speak to us", because this is the single most scrutinised part of an EB-5 case.
• Otherwise. If none of those obstacles apply, you appear to meet the core investment and eligibility requirements, and the tool surfaces the thresholds, timeline and jobs rule so you can plan.

The thresholds and routes it checks

As of 2026 the two investment levels are $800,000 for a TEA project (rural areas or urban areas with high unemployment) and $1,050,000 for a standard project elsewhere. Both figures are inflation-adjusted over time. Every qualifying investment must create or preserve at least 10 full-time jobs for US workers. The test also captures whether you prefer a Regional Center — a USCIS-designated entity that pools investor capital, lets you invest passively, and can count indirect and induced jobs — or a direct investment where you actively manage the business and must create 10 direct jobs yourself. Most international applicants use the Regional Center route, which the tool recommends when you signal a preference for passive investment.

Key assumptions and limitations

Treat the output as an indication, not a decision. The test assumes the statutory figures shown above and does not verify them against your project or the latest USCIS guidance, which can change. It does not model country-specific visa backlogs — nationals of China, India and Vietnam in particular can face multi-year waits that materially affect timing. It cannot assess the quality or solvency of a specific Regional Center project, evaluate your admissibility, or judge whether your source-of-funds documentation will satisfy an adjudicator. Those are matters for a licensed US immigration attorney and your own due diligence, and this tool is not a substitute for either.

How to read your result

Results fall into three bands. A red "not applicable" or "below threshold" result means a hard eligibility gate is not met — either you already hold US status, or your stated budget is below the $800,000 floor. An amber result ("consider alternative programmes" or "partial eligibility") means EB-5 could work but a specific issue — usually timing or source-of-funds complexity — needs addressing first. A green result means you appear to meet the core requirements and can move on to project selection and formal advice.

For example, an investor with $1,000,000 who can fully document the source of their funds and is planning over the long term will typically land in the green band, with the tool pointing toward a TEA Regional Center project at the $800,000 level. By contrast, someone with the same capital but who needs residency within a year will be routed to faster options: a Caribbean passport can be issued in months, so you might compare the Caribbean CBI eligibility check or, for a North American footprint, the Canada Start-Up Visa checker. Our guide on golden visas versus citizenship by investment explains the trade-off between a right to reside and an outright passport.

Why it matters and what to do next

EB-5 commits a large sum of capital for several years with real project and immigration risk, so establishing eligibility early prevents wasted time and cost. If the test suggests EB-5 is viable, the practical next steps are to consult a USCIS-accredited immigration attorney, shortlist and diligence a qualifying Regional Center or direct project, assemble a watertight source-of-funds file, and then file the I-526E petition. Read the mechanics, risks and tax impact in our full US EB-5 investor visa guide, and use the enquiry form below if you would like to be connected with approved Regional Centres and specialist advisers.