Subtract living reserves and separately identified charges from the household resources before comparing actual qualifying capital with the requirement. On September 7, 2026, the standard minimum is US$1,050,000; a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure project uses US$800,000. Statutory adjustments start January 1, 2027, so a later filing needs the applicable amount confirmed.
Build the budget from allocations rather than a single balance
Hypothetical example: a household has set aside money for school, housing and professional services alongside the proposed investment. Those allocations should remain visible rather than being counted twice as both available living funds and invested capital. Identify which payments go into the actual enterprise, which cover services and which remain outside it. The threshold comparison does not decide lawful source, risk, qualifying jobs or the family’s eligibility.
Hypothetical example: an investor allocating proceeds from a veterinary-clinic sale between an EB-5 offering, tax obligations, and a reserve for relocation. Use a ledger that labels capital, administrative fees, professional fees, taxes, and retained reserves without double counting any amount. The EB-5 investment must be placed at risk; a reserve set aside for rent or school is not investment capital merely because it appears on the same balance sheet. Review the offering documents for payment dates and consequences of withdrawal, then compare them with the documented source path. The decision is whether enough verifiable funds remain after taxes and fees to make the selected investment without a misleading account presentation.
EB-5 requires qualifying capital placed at risk, the required job creation, and the later conditional-residence framework. Petition approval alone is not permanent residence. The record must separately establish a lawful source and traceable path for the capital, because a promising project description cannot cure missing source evidence.
Use records created closest to the event: signed agreements, payroll or bank evidence, corporate records, licences, civil documents, and dated correspondence. A careful review identifies what each record proves and what it does not prove. Do not solve a factual gap by copying a favourable label from another route. Make the next decision only after the missing fact is either documented, changed, or plainly described as unresolved.