What EB-5 asks investors to put in, and how long the first card lasts

The United States EB-5 programme asks for an investment of USD 1,050,000, or USD 800,000 in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project. What it gives in return is a green card that is conditional for two years. To keep permanent residence, the investor must file Form I-829 in the 90 days before the card expires. The amounts are adjusted for inflation for petitions filed from 1 January 2027; the new figures have not been published.

How much to invest

The minimum investment is USD 1,050,000, or USD 800,000 in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project. Under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, both amounts adjust automatically for inflation for petitions filed on or after 1 January 2027; no adjusted figures have been published. The Department of Homeland Security has also proposed a USD 1,400,000 amount for projects in high employment areas. That is a proposal, published on 2 July 2026; the amount would apply to petitions filed 60 days or more after a final rule is published. As of The Legation Times’ last check, on 28 August, no final rule had been published.

Fees are rising too. A final rule published on 30 September raises the I-526E petition fee from USD 3,675 to USD 7,850, the I-829 fee from USD 3,750 to USD 5,000, and the integrity fee paid with Form I-526E from USD 1,000 to USD 1,100. USCIS gives 30 November 2026 as the effective date; the rule text itself says 60 days after publication. The Legation Times reported the fee rule on 30 September.

How long the green card lasts

Under section 216A of the Immigration and Nationality Act, an EB-5 investor, spouse and children obtain permanent residence on a conditional basis. USCIS says, on a page last updated in January 2023, that the conditional status runs for two years from the day of lawful admission; its Form I-829 page, updated in June 2026, says the expiry date on the card is the second anniversary.

The investor must file Form I-829 in the 90-day period immediately before that date. USCIS may reject a petition filed earlier. If no petition is filed in the window, conditional status ends and the person becomes removable, although USCIS may excuse a late filing for good cause and extenuating circumstances.

USCIS said in January 2023 that it extends the validity of the green card for 48 months beyond its expiry date for properly filed I-829 petitions; that notice still appears on its remove-conditions page. The same page says conditional status is extended for six months or until USCIS decides the petition, whichever is longer. If the petition is approved, the conditions are removed with effect from the second anniversary. The Legation Times did not find, on the USCIS pages it read, a statement of how long the card issued after that is valid.

The programme’s own deadlines

Regional centre visas are authorised through 30 September 2027. The 2022 law protects regional centre petitions filed on or before 30 September 2026 if the programme lapses. On The Legation Times’ reading of the statute, petitions filed from 1 October 2026 can still be filed and processed but fall outside that protection. As of 30 September, The Legation Times found no bill in govinfo’s records that extends either date, and one bill, H.R. 8586, would stop new EB-5 filings if enacted; it had only been introduced and referred.

For Vietnamese applicants

For October 2026, USCIS tells employment-based applicants to use the Dates for Filing chart (checked on 30 September); Vietnam falls under “All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed”, which is current on every EB-5 row. The Legation Times reported in September that USCIS recorded 174 EB-5 petitions for investors born in Vietnam in the nine months to June 2026, 161 of them in a reserved category. The Legation Times’ July primer explains how the programme works.

What this article does not establish

Processing times for any EB-5 form, the inflation-adjusted amounts that will apply from 2027, whether Congress will extend the programme, what an I-829 petition must show, and the validity of the green card issued after conditions are removed.