Read the general immigrant investor briefing overview
One structural difference explains most of the paperwork gap between these routes. An investor petition succeeds or fails on employment: ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers, counted by a prescribed method and evidenced years after the money moved. The Gold Card framework contains no job-creation obligation whatever. This guide explains how the count works and what it means to depend on it.
How ten jobs are counted, and by whom
The requirement is ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers per investor, and the counting method depends on the structure chosen. In a direct investment the positions are the enterprise’s own employees, evidenced with payroll records, tax filings and employment verification for identified individuals; full-time means the required weekly hours, and combining two part-time roles does not generally produce one qualifying job. Through a designated regional centre, indirect and induced positions created by the project may be counted using a reasonable economic methodology, which means an investor in that structure relies on an economist’s model and on the sponsor’s reporting rather than on a payroll they control. Contractors, the investor, the investor’s spouse and their sons and daughters, and other non-qualifying workers do not count toward the total. The capital supporting those jobs must itself be lawfully sourced and committed at risk, which rules out any contractual right to repayment and any guaranteed rate of return; a discretionary buyback held by the enterprise alone is read as a narrow exception requiring the petition to be withdrawn on exercise unless sustainment and the other applicable requirements have been met. The investor must stay engaged in management or policy formulation.
A framework with no employment obligation
The Gold Card route asks nothing about job creation because it is not built on a business. An applicant pays US$15,000 in non-refundable processing per person and then, after successful vetting and official instructions, gifts US$1 million to the U.S. government as an individual, or US$2 million where a corporation sponsors an employee principal; each eligible joining spouse or unmarried child under twenty-one adds the same fee and the same gift, and including them at the outset is what official guidance recommends. Nothing is invested and nothing is repayable, so there is no project to monitor, no economist’s report and no later filing proving anything was built. What remains is entirely governmental: classification within the existing employment-based first or second preference structure, eligibility, admissibility and visa availability, none of which the payment determines. Corporate terms add a one per cent annual maintenance charge and a five per cent transfer charge with a renewed background check, and a replacement is not automatically approved.
Choosing between a business risk and a sunk payment
Hypothetical example: an investor from Valemount weighs a regional-centre position in a US$800,000 targeted employment area project against the individual gift route. The first commits US$800,000 that has to stay at risk; residence begins on admission with the immigrant visa or on approval of adjustment, eligible accompanying relatives join without investing anything themselves, and the two-year condition is lifted only by a later petition, ordinarily filed in the ninety days before the second anniversary, showing the capital was sustained and the jobs materialised — an outcome partly in the hands of a project the investor does not manage. The second commits US$1 million that is gone on payment, with no jobs to evidence and no second filing of that kind. The governing amounts are US$1,050,000 for a standard investor case and US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure project, with statutory adjustments beginning 1 January 2027 under filing-date rules. Confirm current figures and programme terms from the official sources before committing, since both frameworks have moved recently and neither payment guarantees an approval.
What else is on your mind?
Does an EB-5 immigration review tell me whether an investment is good?Is the Gold Card another name for EB-5?Should I assume one Gold Card payment covers my family?Editorial source review: 2026-09-08. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.