EB-5 Business Plan Requirements
A standalone EB-5 investor relying on jobs not yet created must file a comprehensive business plan showing the need for at least ten qualifying employees within two years, under 8 CFR 204.6(j)(4)(i)(B). For a regional center investment, the statute puts the business plan in the regional center's own application. The same regulation prints a superseded investment amount: "one million eight hundred thousand United States dollars ($1,800,000)" comes from a rule a federal court vacated in 2021. The statute sets $1,050,000, or $800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project, and adjusts both for petitions filed on or after 1 January 2027. On 2 July 2026 DHS proposed to remove 8 CFR 204.6 and replace it; as of 10 October 2026 that rule is not final.
This is general information, not legal advice, and we are not immigration attorneys. File an EB-5 petition with qualified immigration counsel. We write the business plan and its financial model; this page is about what that document has to prove.
Does EB-5 require a business plan?
Yes for a standalone investor, meaning one not investing through a regional center, who is relying on jobs not yet created. For a regional center investment, the plan is filed by the regional center.
Standalone investors. To show that the enterprise will create at least ten full-time positions, 8 CFR 204.6(j)(4)(i) asks for one of two things. Paragraph (A) is tax records, Forms I-9 or similar documents for ten qualifying employees who "have already been hired". Paragraph (B) is:
A copy of a comprehensive business plan showing that, due to the nature and projected size of the new commercial enterprise, the need for not fewer than ten (10) qualifying employees will result, including approximate dates, within the next two years, and when such employees will be hired
The USCIS Policy Manual (6 USCIS-PM G.2) says the two-year period "is deemed to begin 6 months after adjudication of Form I-526". The DHS proposed rule of 2 July 2026, not yet final, would instead count two years from "the date the investor has invested the required amount of capital" (proposed 8 CFR 204.408(f)(1)(ii)).
Regional center investors. Under 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(F)(i), a regional center must file an application for each investment offering before any investor in it petitions, and the application must include "a comprehensive business plan for a specific capital investment project". USCIS calls it Form I-956F. If that is your route, ask your attorney whether a separate plan adds anything before you buy one.
What does an EB-5 business plan have to contain?
Enough detail to support its job numbers, and it has to be credible. Matter of Ho, 22 I&N Dec. 206 (Assoc. Comm. 1998), the precedent decision the Policy Manual cites, says:
To be “comprehensive,” a business plan must be sufficiently detailed to permit the Service to draw reasonable inferences about the job-creation potential.
The Policy Manual restates the decision's list "For standalone investor petitions filed at any time and regional center investor petitions filed before March 15, 2022". It says the plan should contain:
- a description of the business, its products or services, and its objectives;
- a market analysis naming competitors, their strengths, weaknesses, products and pricing, and the target market;
- the required permits and licenses obtained;
- the production process, materials and supply sources, if applicable, and any supply or distribution contracts;
- the marketing strategy;
- the organizational structure and the personnel's experience;
- staffing requirements and "a timetable for hiring, as well as job descriptions for all positions";
- "sales, costs, and income projections" and their basis.
USCIS adds "Most importantly, the business plan must be credible", and "A business plan is not required to contain all of the detailed elements, but the more details the business plan contains, the more likely it is that USCIS considers the plan comprehensive and credible".
What your plan has to show. We write a standalone investor's plan to those elements, with a hiring timetable that gives role, start month and weekly hours, and projections that can carry that payroll. The first thing we check in a draft is that narrative, financial model and hiring schedule describe the same business.
The proposed rule (proposed 8 CFR 204.401) would add a definition that also asks for "detailed capital requirements including sources and uses of funds". It is not final.
Who counts as a qualifying employee?
8 CFR 204.6(e) answers: "Qualifying employee means a United States citizen, a lawfully admitted permanent resident, or other immigrant lawfully authorized to be employed in the United States". The ten-job requirement itself is in 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(A)(ii), which since 2022 also lists United States nationals; the printed definition does not, and the proposed rule would add them.
The definition then names who is left out. In the edition revised as of 1 January 2019, before the vacated rule, it reads "This definition does not include the alien entrepreneur, the alien entrepreneur's spouse, sons, or daughters, or any nonimmigrant alien". The vacated rule changed entrepreneur to investor, which is what the printed text says today.
Full-time employment means employment "in a position that requires a minimum of 35 working hours per week". A full-time position shared by two or more qualifying employees counts if the weekly hours are met, but "This definition shall not include combinations of part-time positions even if, when combined, such positions meet the hourly requirement per week".
For a standalone investor the jobs must be direct. USCIS says "For a new commercial enterprise not located within a regional center, the new commercial enterprise must directly create the full-time positions to be counted", and the regulation's definition of employee says "This definition shall not include independent contractors". Regional center investors are treated differently: 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(E)(iv)(I) permits them "to satisfy only up to 90 percent of the requirement under subparagraph (A)(ii) with jobs that are estimated to be created indirectly".
How much do you have to invest for EB-5 in 2026?
$1,050,000, or $800,000 in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project. Congress set those figures in 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(C)(i) and (ii):
the amount of capital required under subparagraph (A) shall be $1,050,000
The amount of capital required under subparagraph (A) for an investment in a targeted employment area or in an infrastructure project shall be $800,000
Subparagraph (A)(i) adds that the capital must be "expected to remain invested for not less than 2 years". The infrastructure amount is a regional center route: the Policy Manual says "A standalone investor cannot establish eligibility through an infrastructure project".
USCIS lists the same figures: the table on its EB-5 classification page gives $1,050,000 and $800,000 for petitions filed on or after 15 March 2022.
Is the EB-5 minimum investment $1.8 million?
No. 8 CFR 204.6(f) still prints $1,800,000 as the standard amount and "nine hundred thousand United States dollars ($900,000)" for a targeted employment area, but both come from the 2019 EB-5 modernization rule (84 FR 35750). The USCIS EB-5 program page records what happened to it:
On June 22, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in Behring Regional Center LLC v. Wolf, 20-cv-09263-JSC, vacated the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Final Rule
USCIS adds that "we will apply the EB-5 regulations that were in effect before the rule was finalized on Nov. 21, 2019". Congress set new amounts in the statute in 2022, before DHS had removed the vacated text. The printed regulation and the statute differ on each point below:
| Point | 8 CFR 204.6(f)(1) and (2), as printed | 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(C), as amended in 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Standard amount | $1,800,000 | $1,050,000 |
| Targeted employment area | $900,000 | $800,000 |
| Inflation adjustment starts | "Beginning on October 1, 2024, and every five years thereafter" | 1 January 2027, then every 5 years |
| Targeted area amount after adjustment | "to be equal to 50 percent of the standard minimum investment amount" | "to be equal to 75 percent of the standard investment amount" |
In a proposed rule of 2 July 2026 (91 FR 40676), "DHS proposes to remove and reserve 8 CFR 204.6 and create a new Subpart D to part 204 of Title 8 of the CFR". Proposed 8 CFR 204.407(b) would carry $1,050,000 and $800,000 and add $1,400,000 for high employment areas. As of 10 October 2026 no final rule has been published, so 8 CFR 204.6 is still the printed text.
Are the EB-5 investment amounts going up in 2027?
Yes, for petitions filed on or after 1 January 2027, by a formula in the statute. The new figures were not in the Federal Register when we searched it on 10 October 2026.
Beginning on January 1, 2027, and every 5 years thereafter, the amount in clause (i) shall automatically adjust for petitions filed on or after the effective date of each adjustment
The adjustment follows the consumer price index for all urban consumers "between January 1, 2022, and the date of adjustment", and the result is "rounded down to the nearest $50,000". The statute says where the numbers will appear: "The Secretary of Homeland Security shall update such amounts by publication of a technical amendment in the Federal Register".
Illustration, not a forecast. If the cumulative index change were 18 percent, $1,050,000 × 1.18 = $1,239,000, which rounds down to $1,200,000. The targeted employment area amount would then be 75 percent of $1,200,000, which is $900,000.
Is the EB-5 regional center program ending in 2027?
The statute authorizes regional center visas through 30 September 2027, and its protection against a lapse covers petitions filed on or before 30 September 2026.
The program date is in subparagraph (E)(i): "Visas under this subparagraph shall be made available through September 30, 2027". Whether Congress extends it is unknown.
The lapse protection is subparagraph (S)(i). If the authorizing legislation expires, the Secretary of Homeland Security "shall continue processing petitions" based on regional center investments "that were filed on or before September 30, 2026". That date has passed. A regional center petition filed after 30 September 2026 falls outside the wording of clause (i), which is a question for your immigration attorney before you commit funds.
What does an EB-5 business plan cost?
Our immigration business plans are published at $1,900 Essential, $2,400 Standard and $3,200 Premium, fixed. Our published tiers put EB-5 direct filings in Standard ($2,400); regional center work and filings that need economic impact modeling are Premium ($3,200). We never charge a percentage of anything you borrow, invest or raise. We write the plan and the financial model behind its projections, alongside your immigration attorney, not instead of one. Attorney and USCIS filing fees are separate; we have not surveyed attorney fees.
For an E-2 treaty investor visa the test is different: see our E-2 visa business plan guide. For other routes, start with our immigration business plan overview.
Business Plan Firm is the US practice of Avvale, a London consultancy. We have written 1,000+ plans for 500+ founders across 30+ countries, and our clients have raised $500M+.
How we verified this
Every quotation was checked character for character against raw source text retrieved on 10 October 2026.
- 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), for the amounts, the 2027 adjustment and the regional center rules and dates: Legal Information Institute.
- 8 CFR 204.6, for the business plan rule, the definitions and the superseded amounts: current text at the Legal Information Institute. The official govinfo.gov annual edition is revised as of 1 January 2025; every passage we quote from it reads the same in the current text, whose source note ends at 85 FR 46922, 3 August 2020. The business plan and employee passages also read the same in the edition revised as of 1 January 2019, the source of the exclusion we quote; the vacated rule is 84 FR 35750.
- Federal Register: the proposed rule, 91 FR 40676, and searches on 10 October 2026, which found no final rule amending 8 CFR 204.6 since the 2025 edition and no notice of adjusted amounts.
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 2, current as of 2 October 2026, for plan contents, the two-year period and infrastructure projects.
- Matter of Ho, decided 31 July 1998: justice.gov.
- USCIS: the EB-5 program page, for the vacatur, and About the EB-5 Visa Classification (last reviewed 18 November 2025), for the amounts table and direct jobs.
Not verified, so not on this page: the adjusted 2027 amounts (not yet published); how regional centers count indirect jobs; processing times; approval or denial rates; filing fees; attorney fees. We will revise this page when DHS publishes the adjusted amounts or a final rule.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum EB-5 investment in 2026?
The minimum EB-5 investment is $1,050,000, or $800,000 in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project, under 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(C)(i) and (ii). The $1,800,000 and $900,000 still printed in 8 CFR 204.6(f) come from a 2019 rule that a federal court vacated in 2021.
When do the EB-5 investment amounts increase?
Under 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(C)(iii), the EB-5 amounts adjust for inflation for petitions filed on or after 1 January 2027, then every five years. The targeted employment area amount becomes 75 percent of the standard amount. The new figures were not in the Federal Register when we searched it on 10 October 2026.
Is a business plan required for an EB-5 petition?
For a standalone EB-5 investor relying on jobs not yet created, yes: 8 CFR 204.6(j)(4)(i)(B) asks for a comprehensive business plan showing the need for at least ten qualifying employees within two years. Where the ten are already hired, paragraph (A) accepts their records. For a regional center investment, 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(F)(i) puts the plan in the regional center's application.
How many jobs must an EB-5 investment create?
An EB-5 investment must create full-time jobs for at least ten qualifying employees under 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(A)(ii). 8 CFR 204.6(e) sets full-time at a minimum of 35 working hours per week and leaves out the investor, the investor's spouse, sons and daughters, and nonimmigrants. For a standalone investor, independent contractors do not count. Regional center investors may count indirect jobs for up to 90 percent.
Is the EB-5 regional center program ending?
8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(E)(i) makes EB-5 regional center visas available through 30 September 2027. Subparagraph (S)(i) protects regional center petitions filed on or before 30 September 2026 if the authorizing legislation expires, and that date has passed. Whether Congress extends the program is unknown.
This page summarizes 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), 8 CFR 204.6 and the sources listed above as retrieved on 10 October 2026. It is general information and not legal or immigration advice, and no attorney-client relationship arises from reading it. Immigration law changes and adjudication turns on individual facts. Retain qualified immigration counsel and confirm current requirements with USCIS before acting.