Updated August 11, 2026

US-EB5

A green card by investment

A United States greencard under EB-5

The only investment programme that leads to permanent status in the United States: an investment from $800,000 in a project that creates jobs, and a green card for the whole family.

Get a preliminary assessment Choose the project

The conditions under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022
Working since 2004
We check the project and the regional centre before the investment

A United States permanent resident card obtained under the EB-5 programme

from $800,000The investment threshold

10 jobsPer investor

a green cardThe result of the programme

01 / About the program

How the EB-5 programme works

EB-5 is an immigrant visa for investors, in force since 1990; in 2022 the programme was rewritten by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act. The investor puts funds into a project that creates at least ten jobs, receives a conditional green card for two years and then a permanent one. It is the only investment programme that leads to permanent status and, in prospect, to United States citizenship.

Two thresholds, set by where the project is

$800,000 for projects in a targeted employment area — a rural area, a region of high unemployment or an infrastructure project. $1,050,000 for other projects.

Ten jobs

Each investor must create or preserve at least ten permanent jobs for American workers. Through a regional centre indirect jobs count as well.

A conditional status first

The green card is issued conditionally for two years. Ninety days before it expires the I-829 petition is filed: if the jobs have been created and the investment kept, the status becomes permanent.

Reserved quotas speed the process up

Since 2022 part of the visas has been reserved: 20% for rural projects, 10% for areas of high unemployment, 2% for infrastructure. For citizens of countries with a long queue that is the main accelerator.

02 / What you get

What a United States green card gives you

A permanent status, not a visa

A green card gives the right to live, work and study in any state with no tie to an employer, a sponsor or a project.

A status for the whole family

A spouse and children under 21 receive green cards on the same investment. A child’s age is fixed under the age-protection rules when the petition is filed.

Education at resident rates

Children enter universities as residents of the state: the difference from the cost for foreigners is often comparable with the investment itself.

The investment stays yours

This is an investment in a project, not a contribution. The return depends on the project and comes after the conditions are removed — the law does not allow a guaranteed yield.

The road to citizenship

After five years with a permanent green card the right to apply for naturalisation opens up, subject to the residence requirements.

Work without a sponsor

Unlike work visas, the status does not depend on an employer: you are free to change jobs, start a business or not work at all.

A preliminary assessment

Calculate the budget for your family

Set out who is applying with you. With the calculation you get the full EB-5 budget: the investment, the fees and charges for each person, the real timelines for your country of birth and a plan of action.

Who is applying for the green card?

Get the calculation

about a minuteno calls and no obligationsconfidential

The full budget with the fees and charges
The real timelines for your country of birth
A plan of action: where to start

United States permanent resident cards and a set of EB-5 documents

03 / Why people apply

Why people arrange EB-5

EB-5 is taken by those who need permanent status in the United States specifically: a family move, education for the children, work with no tie to a sponsor. It is a long and expensive route, but the only investment one.

A move for the whole family

One investment gives the status to a spouse and children under 21. For a family it is the most direct route to permanent residence in the United States.

University for the children

Tuition at in-state resident rates and access to student programmes. For a family with two children the saving runs to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Freedom from an employer

Neither H-1B nor L-1 gives such independence: the status is not tied to a company and does not lapse on dismissal.

Money in a project, not in a budget

The investment goes into a particular business. If the project succeeds the capital comes back after the conditions are removed.

Acceleration through the reserved quotas

Rural projects go outside the general queue and with priority processing — for citizens of countries with a long queue that is the decisive factor.

A path to a passport

After five years of status naturalisation opens up. It is the only United States investment programme with such a horizon.

04 / Travel

What a green card gives you for travel

A green card is the status of a permanent resident of the United States, not a passport. It gives the right to live and work in the country but carries its own obligations.

Mode 01

The United States without limits

The right to live, work and study in any state. There is no tie to an employer, a sponsor or a particular place.

Mode 02

Trips out of the country

An absence of more than six months raises questions on entry; more than a year is a ground for treating the status as abandoned. For long absences a re-entry permit is arranged.

Mode 03

The rest of the world on your own passport

You travel to third countries on your current passport of citizenship: a green card does not change the visa regime.

Mode 04

Tax obligations

A permanent resident of the United States is taxed on worldwide income regardless of where they live. That is the key consequence of the status and it is worked out before filing.

Sources: the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program under section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022 and the USCIS rules. The tax consequences of the status require separate advice from a United States tax specialist.

05 / The composition of the application

Who gets a green card with you

Green cards go to the investor and their immediate family. Open a row to see the conditions.

There are no age limits
No convictions and no breaches of United States immigration law
A confirmed lawful source of funds and path of the money
The funds are at risk in the project

In a registered marriage at the time the petition is filed
Receives the green card at the same time as the investor

Unmarried
A child’s age is fixed under the child status protection rules when the petition is filed
Children over 21 apply on their own grounds

They do not come into this application
Once the green card is obtained the investor may sponsor their parents separately
The timelines for such applications depend on the category of kinship and the queue

06 / Cost

What EB-5 costs

The threshold depends on where the project is. The number of people in the application does not change the size of the investment — the composition affects the state fees and the medical examination.

A rural project · priority processing

$800,000

≈ $800,000

Holding period At least 2 years, until the conditions are removed

Jobs: 10 permanent jobs

The project is in a rural area under the USCIS criteria
20% of the annual visas are reserved and priority processing of the petition is provided for
An investment of $800,000 through an approved regional centre
Creating or preserving ten jobs, indirect ones included
The funds must be at risk: the law does not allow a guaranteed return

An area of high unemployment · a reserved quota

$800,000

≈ $800,000

Holding period At least 2 years, until the conditions are removed

Jobs: 10 permanent jobs

An area with unemployment of at least 150% of the national average
10% of the annual visas are reserved
An investment of $800,000 through an approved regional centre
The status of the area is confirmed as at the date the petition is filed

The type of project

The main applicant

Spouse

Children under 21

Parents and other relatives

The thresholds are given under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act 2022. On top of the investment come the regional centre’s administrative fee, the USCIS fees for the I-526E and I-829 petitions, the consular fees, the medical examination and legal support. USCIS revises its fees — the budget is fixed as at the date of filing. This is a preliminary calculation, not a decision of a state authority.

07 / Comparison

EB-5 against other programmes

EB-5 solves a different task from the European programmes: it is a route to permanent status and citizenship, not to residency without moving.

	The United States	Portugal	Greece	The UAE	Malta
Investment threshold from	$800,000	€200,000	€250,000	≈ $545,000	€300,000
What it gives	A green card	Residency	Residency	Residency	Permanent residence
The path to citizenship	5 years with the status	10 years	7 years of residence	Practically none	Under the general rules
Tax on worldwide income	Yes	No	No	No	No
Processing time	2-4 years	6-18 months	4-6 months	1-2 months	6-8 months

The EB-5 timelines depend on the queue for the country of birth and on the type of project. The data are given as at the date this page was updated and are checked again before the agreement is signed.

Full program comparison →

10 / How it works

How the EB-5 process works

STEP 1

The preliminary check

We go through the situation: citizenship and country of birth (which sets the queue), the family composition, the source of funds and the tax consequences of the status.

STEP 2

Choosing the project

A regional centre with a current USCIS approval, the economic model for the jobs, the structure of the loan or equity, the exit arrangements. That is the main risk of the programme.

STEP 3

Evidencing the source of funds

The full chain: the origin of the capital, the tax history, the path of the money to the project’s account. Most weak files are filtered out at this stage.

STEP 4

The investment and the I-526E petition

The funds are transferred to the project and the investor’s petition is filed. For rural projects USCIS considers it as a priority.

STEP 5

The visa or adjustment of status

After the petition is approved — consular processing in the country of residence, or adjustment of status if you are already in the United States lawfully.

STEP 6

The conditional green card

It is issued for two years to the investor, the spouse and children under 21. From that moment the family lives and works in the United States without limits.

STEP 7

Removing the conditions — the I-829 petition

Ninety days before the two-year term ends the petition is filed: it confirms that the investment has been kept and ten jobs created. After approval the status becomes permanent.

A step-by-step plan of the process

The same seven steps as a document: what is prepared at each stage, which documents are needed, how long each step takes and where the queue depends on the country of birth.

Download the step-by-step plan

The programme operates under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022.

The USAGreen cardInvestment

Choose the project

11 / Our role

Why people arrange EB-5 with us

EB-5 carries two different risks: the immigration one — the petition is refused — and the financial one — the project does not return the money. We work with both, not only with the documents.

We check the project, not only the papers

The regional centre’s approval, the economic model for the jobs, the funding structure, the order of payouts and the history of past projects.

We prepare the source of funds

The most frequent cause of refusals is gaps in the chain of the capital’s origin. We assemble it in advance, including the tax history and proof of the transfers.

We work out the queue by country of birth

For some countries the status comes in a couple of years, for others considerably longer. The reserved quotas change the picture, and we show the real timelines, not advertised ones.

We stay to the removal of conditions

The programme does not end with the green card: two years later the I-829 is filed. We stay with the client through to permanent status.

12 / Team

Who runs the United States green card process

The application is run by a permanent team: the programme lawyer, a source-of-funds specialist and a family coordinator.

Sergey EvdokimovManaging PartnerThe strategy for the programme and the choice of project

Klara RihterHead of Compliance and Due DiligenceThe source of funds and preparing the petitions

Tomas LinderCompliance and AML OfficerThe tax consequences of the status

Elena TitovaClient Relationship ManagerCoordinating the family and contact at every stage

15 / Materials

Useful materials on the United States

Materials on the EB-5 programme: choosing a project, the source of funds and how the status is obtained.

The main materialPresentation

A United States green card under the EB-5 programme

The presentation gathers the essentials: the thresholds and types of project, how the petitions work, the family composition, the documents and how the work is done.

Inside:

how projects differ by threshold and queue
how a regional centre is checked
what evidencing the source of funds involves
which family members receive a green card
how long each stage takes
how the conditions are removed after two years
how work with BRIDGES is organised

PDF · free · current as of August 2026

The centre’s approval, the job model, the loan structure, the order of payouts and the history of past projects.

The list of documents on the origin of the capital and the path of the money — the heaviest part of the file.

We calculate the full budget: the investment, the centre’s fee, the USCIS fees, the consular fees and the support.

All the materials are updated regularly by our team and are used when supporting BRIDGES clients.

16 / News

What has changed in the EB-5 programme

2022-03-15

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act was passed: thresholds of $800,000 and $1,050,000, reserved quotas for rural, distressed and infrastructure projects and new requirements for regional centres.

2022-03-15

The possibility of filing the petition and the application to adjust status at the same time was introduced for those already in the United States lawfully.

2024-01-01

USCIS confirmed priority processing of petitions on rural projects — for countries with a long queue that is the main way to shorten the timeline.

Worth having

Download the EB-5 checklist

The short document we give clients before the start: the types of project, the requirements as to the source of funds, the cost structure and the stages — in one list, with nothing padded.

Inside the document

The types of project and the difference in the queue
What evidencing the source of funds involves
The current conditions for 2026

We will send it after a short form - no call or obligation.

17 / Questions

Answers to common questions

$800,000 if the project is in a targeted employment area — a rural area, a region of high unemployment or an infrastructure project. $1,050,000 for projects outside such areas. The size of the investment does not depend on the number of people in the application.

The return depends on the project and comes after the conditions are removed. The law expressly requires the funds to be at risk: a guaranteed return makes the investment ineligible for the programme. That is why we check the economics of the project rather than the promises.

From two to four years depending on the type of project and the applicant’s country of birth. Rural projects are processed as a priority, and the reserved quotas allow you not to stand in the general queue — for countries with a long queue that is the decisive factor.

The investor, the spouse and unmarried children under 21. A child’s age is fixed under the age-protection rules when the petition is filed. Parents do not come into this application: they can be sponsored later, once you hold the status.

The status is first issued for two years. Ninety days before it expires the I-829 petition is filed, confirming that the investment has been kept and ten jobs created. After approval the status becomes permanent without restrictions.

Yes, the status is designed for permanent residence. An absence of more than six months raises questions on entry; more than a year is a ground for treating the status as abandoned. For long absences a re-entry permit is arranged.

A permanent resident of the United States is taxed on worldwide income regardless of where they live. That is the most serious consequence of the status and it has to be worked out before filing — together with a United States tax specialist.

The full chain: how the capital was earned, what taxes were paid on it and how the money moved to the project’s account. Gaps in that chain are the main cause of refusals under the programme, so the file is prepared in advance.

Yes, if you are in the country lawfully. Since 2022 the investor’s petition and the application to adjust status may be filed at the same time — which allows a work permit to be obtained earlier.

Yes. After five years with permanent status the right to apply for naturalisation opens up, subject to the requirements as to residence, language and civics.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

Tell us what outcome your family needs

We will design a solution for your case, choose the country and the right status, and take the whole process through to the result.

Get a preliminary assessment Book a consultation

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Anna Kovalevskaya, lead lawyer at BRIDGES GLOBAL

Anna KovalevskayaLead lawyer, citizenship and residency, 12 years of practice