IN THIS GUIDE · Document sale proceeds from local land or a family business without shortcuts
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Establish job creation on the U.S. project's own terms
Identify how the project supports at least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor under the applicable direct or regional-center method, without allocating the same jobs twice. Direct employment generally requires at least 35 hours weekly and eligible employees; independent contractors, nonimmigrants, and the investor and their spouse or sons and daughters do not count as direct qualifying employees. Existing payroll is not automatically newly created employment; the troubled-business exception requires its own analysis. Keep the job evidence separate from the land-sale amount: neither a larger sale nor multiple eligible derivatives reduces the per-investor job requirement.
Trace land, farm, or business-sale proceeds fully
Hypothetical example: a Strathroy-Caradoc family sells inherited farmland and proposes to use part of the proceeds for an EB-5 investment. Document the original ownership, the sale agreement, any co-owners, and each transfer the funds went through afterward, including currency conversion, rather than relying on a single closing statement to explain the whole history.
Review the investment offering independently of the sale's size
Assess the offering's deployment plan, fees, and risks with independent advice, regardless of how significant the Ontario sale felt to the family. A large source of funds does not make a weak or unclear job-creation plan any stronger, and the immigration evidence should be reviewed on the project's own merits. Check the petition-date capital minimum: currently US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure investment, with statutory adjustments beginning January 1, 2027. Capital must meet the at-risk requirements, and the investor must participate through management or policy formulation; qualifying limited-partner rights can suffice without daily management.
Plan the multi-stage process with the whole family in view
Bring every family member's age, status, and objectives into the plan from the outset, since CSPA and visa-availability questions require individualized review regardless of how the investment was funded. A large family asset sale does not change any of the procedural stages the case still has to go through. Conditional residence starts upon immigrant-visa admission or adjustment approval, not the initial petition approval. The general I-829 filing window is the 90 days before its second anniversary. Filing that petition does not itself remove conditions or entitle the investor to repayment. Eligible spouse and unmarried children under 21, subject to applicable CSPA analysis, can be derivatives without separate principal investments; a sibling is not such a derivative.
Retain capital, workers and participation conditions
The enterprise must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying United States workers: United States citizens or nationals, lawful permanent residents, and other immigrants lawfully authorised to work, excluding the investor, spouse, sons and daughters. The investor must engage through managerial control or policy formulation; genuine qualifying participation rights can matter without requiring every investor to manage day-to-day operations. A regional-centre investment may rely on an economic methodology that includes indirect and induced jobs generated by the project's spending and revenue. The investor should retain periodic statements, project reports and proof that the capital remains deployed as required through the sustainment period.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.