Qualifying capital of US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a targeted employment area or qualifying infrastructure project with statutory adjustment beginning 1 January 2027, placed at risk in a new commercial enterprise creating at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying American workers, with lawful source and path of funds proved and the investor engaged in management or policy formulation.
Capital, jobs, provenance and involvement
The four requirements are tested independently and they fail independently. Capital must be the investor's own and genuinely at risk rather than guaranteed, and the reduced figure is available only where the project truly meets the targeted employment area or infrastructure criteria. Job creation is the purpose of the programme: at least ten full-time positions for qualifying American workers, evidenced directly where the investor controls the business and, in a regional centre case, partly through permitted indirect and induced methodologies.
Provenance is proved rather than declared, and for someone whose money comes from a business sale and a timber harvest that means several years of records. Involvement means the investor cannot be a wholly passive lender. Residence, when it comes, is conditional for two years and becomes permanent only after a further petition succeeds on the facts as they turn out.