EB-5 investment amount: when the reduced minimum applies to you

Two dates now decide what an EB-5 investor pays. The petition fees more than double for petitions postmarked on or after 30 November 2026, and from 1 January 2027 both minimum investment amounts are adjusted for inflation for petitions filed from that day; a petition filed before 30 November keeps today's fees and today's amount.

An investor who signs a subscription agreement now but whose petition goes out in December pays the new fees on the old investment amount; one whose petition goes out in January faces both changes, and nobody can yet say what the adjusted amount will be. If a project's timetable puts your filing after either date, ask the project and your lawyer, in writing, which fees and which investment amount its offer assumes. Both changes are listed above as announced, under the figures in force today.

When you file matters

The government fee shown above is the petition filing fee in force today: Form I-526E for an investment through a regional center, Form I-526 for a direct one, the same amount for both. A regional-center investor also pays the EB-5 Integrity Fund fee; a direct investor does not. The final rule the Department of Homeland Security published on 30 September 2026 sets the new amounts listed above, for any petition postmarked on or after 30 November, and the later fee to remove the conditions on your green card rises as well.

The investment amounts follow a separate clock written into the statute. From 1 January 2027, and every five years after, the standard amount moves with the change in US consumer prices since 2022 and is rounded down, and the reduced amount is set at three quarters of it. Petitions filed before that date keep the current amounts. The adjusted figures arrive in a Federal Register notice that had not appeared when this page was checked, so any amount quoted to you for 2027 is an estimate, not a rule.

The reduced amount follows the project

The figure above is the reduced minimum investment, set by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022. Only a project in a rural or high-unemployment area, or one for infrastructure, earns it; the location and type of the project set the amount, and your nationality, wealth or job do not. When a regional center says the reduced amount applies, ask who confirmed that the project qualifies, and when, before any money moves. It is capital you invest in a business, not a fee paid to the government.

The investment also has to do three things:

• create at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying US workers for each investor;
• stay at risk in the business, so an offer that guarantees you will get it back is a warning sign;
• remain invested for the period shown above.

Who is paid what

Money in this route flows to the government, to the project, and to the advisers around it.

Charges that go to the government:

• The filing fee for your petition, the integrity fund fee if you invest through a regional center, and later the fee for removing the conditions on your green card.

Charges that are the project's or the adviser's own:

• The regional center's or project's administrative fee, charged on top of the investment.
• The immigration lawyer's fee, and any securities lawyer's fee, each on its own line.

Before you wire money, put these to the project and to your lawyer:

1. On what date will the petition be filed, and do the offer and the lawyer's quote assume the fees and the investment amount in force on that date?
2. On what basis does the project qualify for the reduced amount: rural area, high-unemployment area, or infrastructure? Who confirmed it, and when?
3. How will the project create at least ten full-time jobs for each investor, and what happens to your petition if it does not?
4. Is any part of the offer described as guaranteed? If so, ask why, and ask your lawyer whether that is allowed.
5. What is the administrative fee, and is it separate from the capital you invest?
6. When, and how, is the capital expected to be returned once the investment period ends?

A project's subscription agreement or an immigration lawyer's fee quote is what the box's first question is for: answer yes and each line is set against the published US rules, including the fees in force on the day you check; no firm prices for this route are on file yet, so its fees are not compared with other firms'. Still comparing projects? Answer no and enter the amount you plan to invest. The check compares a document or a figure with the published rules, and does not look at your application or advise on it; for advice on your own case, speak to an immigration attorney or an accredited representative.

General information, not legal advice.