Updated November 12, 2026

US golden visa: how to get an investor green card through the EB-5 program

The United States does not have a visa named a golden visa in federal law, so investors seeking a US golden visa apply through the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) Immigrant Investor Program. For petitions filed on or after March 15, 2022, USCIS requires you to invest at least the minimum capital amount in the table below, with a lower threshold for a Targeted Employment Area or infrastructure project than for a standard commercial enterprise, and plan to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified US workers. Eligible investors, their spouses, and unmarried children under 21 receive a 2-year conditional green card first and then petition to remove conditions for permanent resident status.

What is the US golden visa?

When people search for a US golden visa or ask how to get a golden visa in America, they mean the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program administered by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Congress created the EB-5 category in 1990 under section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to stimulate the US economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors.

Under the EB-5 program, you, your spouse, and your unmarried children under 21 years of age can apply for lawful permanent residence (a green card). To qualify, you make the required lawful investment in a US commercial enterprise and plan to create or preserve 10 permanent full-time jobs for qualified US workers.

In 1992, Congress added the Regional Center Program, which sets aside EB-5 visas for investors in commercial enterprises associated with USCIS-approved regional centers. On March 15, 2022, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA), signed as part of Public Law 117-103, revised the capital rules, created reserved visa categories, and authorized immigrant visas under the Regional Center Program through September 30, 2027.

• Standalone EB-5 (Form I-526): You invest directly in one commercial enterprise without pooling funds with other immigrant investors, and that enterprise must directly employ at least 10 full-time qualifying workers.
• Regional Center EB-5 (Form I-526E): You pool capital with one or more qualified immigrants through a USCIS-designated regional center, and up to 90% of the 10-job requirement can be met with indirect jobs.

Investment amounts and statutory thresholds

USCIS sets capital thresholds by filing date, project location, and pathway. Under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, EB-5 minimum investment amounts adjust every five years based on the CPI-U inflation measure from March 15, 2022, with the first adjustment effective for petitions filed on or after January 1, 2027.

Every dollar figure from the USCIS pages we reviewed appears in one table below. It covers Targeted Employment Area (TEA) thresholds, pre-RIA amounts for investors retaining an earlier priority date under INA 203(b)(5)(M), and the regional center integrity fee. It also lists startup funding benchmarks under the International Entrepreneur Rule (IER) effective October 1, 2024. By our calculation from USCIS's About the EB-5 Visa Classification page, investing in a TEA or qualified infrastructure project lowers the post-March 15, 2022 capital requirement by 23.81% compared to the standard EB-5 threshold.

Investment amounts, funding benchmarks, and statutory fees from uscis.gov, as of November 2026

Targeted Employment Areas and reserved visa set-asides

Investing in a Targeted Employment Area or an infrastructure project qualifies your petition for the reduced capital tier in the table above and gives you access to reserved EB-5 immigrant visas each fiscal year. USCIS determines TEA eligibility directly at the time of investment rather than deferring to state or local government designations.

• Rural area: Any area outside both a metropolitan statistical area (designated by the Office of Management and Budget) and the outer boundary of any city or town with a population of 20,000 or more under the most recent decennial US census.
• High-unemployment area: The census tract or contiguous tracts where the new commercial enterprise principally does business, plus any directly adjacent tracts, with a weighted average unemployment rate of at least 150% of the national average.
• Infrastructure project: A capital investment project under a filed or approved business plan administered by a federal, state, or local governmental entity acting as the job-creating entity that contracts with a regional center or new commercial enterprise for a public works project.

Annual EB-5 reserved visa set-asides under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022

Regional Center vs. standalone job and capital rules

USCIS rejects any standalone Form I-526 petition filed on or after March 15, 2022 that pools capital from multiple immigrant investors. Whenever two or more EB-5 investors pool funds into one enterprise, they must invest through a USCIS-designated regional center and file Form I-526E. Before you file, the regional center must submit Form I-956F for the project and give you its receipt number and New Commercial Enterprise Identification Number (NCEID). Effective March 30, 2026, USCIS decides the associated Form I-956F before assigning linked Form I-526E petitions for review, prioritizing rural Form I-526E filings first.

Every EB-5 investment must go into a new commercial enterprise: a lawful, for-profit business formed after November 29, 1990 (owning and operating a personal residence does not count). A business formed on or before November 29, 1990 qualifies only if it is purchased and restructured or reorganized into a new enterprise, or expanded through your investment to produce at least a 40% increase in net worth or employee headcount.

• 10 full-time jobs: Your enterprise must create permanent positions requiring at least 35 working hours per week for at least 10 qualifying employees (US citizens, US nationals, lawful permanent residents, conditional or temporary residents, asylees, or refugees). You, your spouse, your sons or daughters, independent contractors, and nonimmigrant visa holders such as H-1B workers do not count. Job-sharing one full-time role counts, while combining part-time roles does not.
• Direct vs. indirect jobs: Standalone enterprises must employ all 10 workers directly. Regional center enterprises may meet up to 90% of the job requirement through indirect jobs created outside the enterprise.
• Troubled businesses: For a business existing at least two years that incurred a net loss of at least 20% of its net worth in the 12 or 24 months before your Form I-526 priority date, you may rely on job maintenance by keeping headcount at or above the pre-investment level for at least two years.
• At-risk capital and 2-year sustainment: Capital must be valued at fair market value in US dollars and placed at risk. You cannot use a debt arrangement with the enterprise, receive a guaranteed return, or hold a contractual right to repayment, though the enterprise may hold a buy-back option solely at its own discretion. For petitions filed on or after March 15, 2022, INA 203(b)(5)(A)(i) requires that capital be expected to remain invested for not less than 2 years after being placed at risk, rather than throughout conditional residence.

Lawful source of funds checklist for Form I-526 and Form I-526E

You must prove that both your invested capital and all funds used for administrative costs and fees came from lawful sources. Both Form I-526 and Form I-526E instructions require 20 years of employment history, plus any government or military roles at any time in your life. Work through this checklist from our team before transferring funds:

• 7 years of tax returns: Copies of all tax returns of any kind filed by you or on your behalf inside or outside the United States within the past 7 years.
• Business ownership records: Foreign and domestic business registration records, articles of incorporation, partnership agreements, and financial statements if funds came from a business.
• 15-year judgment and action records: Certified copies of any monetary judgments from any court in or outside the United States within the past 15 years, plus evidence of any pending governmental administrative, civil, or criminal actions.
• Gift and loan tracing: Lawful-source records from any donor or non-bank lender proving the funds were earned lawfully and given in good faith. Borrowed capital requires your personal and primary liability secured by your own personal assets (never the EB-5 enterprise's assets), with proof of ownership and fair market value.
• Third-party transfer and hawala IDs: Full identity records for any person, money-service business, or exchanger (such as a hawala) that moved funds into the United States for you, including business licenses for entities or a passport, birth certificate, or state ID for individuals.
• Regional center fee disclosure and translations: Written confirmation on Form I-526E disclosing all promoter fees and compensation, plus certified English translations signed by a competent translator for every foreign-language document.

Step-by-step process to get your EB-5 green card

Securing permanent residence through EB-5 moves through five stages, with statutory protections if a regional center later loses designation.

• Step 1, File Form I-526 or Form I-526E: Mail your standalone Form I-526 or regional center Form I-526E with your source-of-funds evidence and filing fee. On November 14, 2025, USCIS updated Form G-1055 to revert EB-5 form fees to pre-April 1, 2024 levels under a court partial stay, so verify the current fee on USCIS's Fee Schedule page before mailing.
• Step 2, Concurrent Form I-485 (in the US) or Form DS-260 (abroad): Check the Department of State's monthly Visa Bulletin to confirm an immigrant visa is immediately available for your category and country. If you are in the United States after inspection and admission or parole, you can file Form I-485 with a copy of your CBP Form I-94 record, which you can print from CBP if it was issued electronically. You may submit Form I-485 together with Form I-526 or Form I-526E, while your petition is pending, or after approval. You can also file Form I-765 for work authorization and Form I-131 for Advance Parole. Leaving the United States without Advance Parole generally abandons a pending Form I-485. Since September 1, 2022, USCIS rejects combined fee payments, so send a separate payment for each form. Applicants outside the United States file Form DS-260 with the Department of State after petition approval.
• Step 3, Biometrics and interview: Provide fingerprints, photograph, and signature for FBI checks and sign an oath reaffirming your petition was complete and true when filed.
• Step 4, Two-year conditional residence: Upon Form I-485 approval or admission on an EB-5 immigrant visa, you and qualifying family members receive 2-year conditional permanent resident status.
• Step 5, File Form I-829: Within the 90-day period immediately before your second anniversary of conditional residence, file Form I-829 to remove conditions.
• Protection after termination or debarment: Under INA 203(b)(5)(M), good-faith investors generally have 180 days to respond after USCIS notifies them that their regional center was terminated or their enterprise was debarred. Within that window, you can show you already met the 2-year investment and 10-job rules. Otherwise, you can amend Form I-526E without a second Integrity Fund fee by reassociating with an approved regional center or investing in a new enterprise. Project failure alone without USCIS termination or debarment requires a new petition.

Alternatives: EB-5 vs. E-2 Treaty Investor vs. Entrepreneur Parole

Two USCIS pathways let founders build a US business without meeting EB-5 capital thresholds, though neither grants a green card directly.

The E-2 Treaty Investor nonimmigrant classification covers nationals of countries with a US treaty of commerce and navigation on the Department of State treaty list. You must invest a substantial amount of at-risk capital in a bona fide enterprise and hold at least 50% ownership or operational control. The business cannot be marginal, meaning it must have the capacity to generate more than a minimal living within 5 years. Under Executive Order 14286 (issued April 28, 2025), E-2 applications for positions requiring operation of a commercial motor vehicle must include proof of English proficiency.

Under the International Entrepreneur Rule (Form I-941), up to 3 founders owning at least 10% initially (5% for re-parole) in a US startup formed within the past 5 years can request discretionary parole based on qualified US investor funding or government grants.

Comparison of USCIS investor and entrepreneur pathways (uscis.gov)

What officers ask at EB-5 and E-2 interviews

At a consular immigrant interview, Form I-485 interview, or E-2 visa interview, officers test whether your spoken answers match your filing records:

• How did you earn your invested funds, and how did the money reach the US enterprise? Checks lawful source and transfer path. Have ready: 7 years of tax returns, sale or gift contracts, wire receipts, and third-party exchanger IDs.
• What does the enterprise do, and how will it create 10 full-time jobs? Checks project credibility and qualifying workers. Have ready: your standalone business plan and Form I-9 records, or your regional center name, Form I-956F receipt, TEA category, and job model.
• Is any part of your capital guaranteed to be returned? Checks that funds are genuinely at risk with no debt note, guaranteed return, or investor-held redemption right. Have ready: your partnership or subscription agreement.
• For E-2 applicants: How much have you spent so far, what is the total startup cost, and what is your role? Checks substantial proportionality, 5-year non-marginality, and 50% ownership or operational control. Have ready: wire proofs, invoices, 5-year projections, and share certificates.

Practice example

Where did the funds for your EB-5 investment come from, and how were they transferred to the US enterprise?

Give a clear, chronological trace of both your invested capital and the money used for administrative fees, making sure every date and figure matches Part 5 of your Form I-526E or Part 4 of your Form I-526. Start with how you originally earned or acquired the funds, such as accumulated salary, business dividends, a property sale, a gift, or a loan secured by your personal assets. If you used gifted or non-bank borrowed money, explain how the donor or lender earned those funds lawfully too. Next, walk step by step through the banking path from your personal account into the US commercial enterprise's business or escrow account, naming every bank, licensed money-service business, or third-party exchanger involved. Bring organized copies of your past 7 years of tax returns, wire receipts, gift or loan agreements, and your regional center's fee disclosure.

The officer is verifying two statutory rules at once: that every dollar of capital and administrative fees came from a documented lawful source, and that the transfer chain into the US commercial enterprise has no unexplained gaps or unverified intermediaries.

This is interview practice, not legal advice. For questions about your own case, talk to an immigration attorney. Visaful is not affiliated with the U.S. government or the Department of State.