Several years in total: petition adjudication, then a wait for visa availability if the investor's chargeability is backlogged, then residence processing, then two years of conditional status and the removal-of-conditions petition. The investment must remain at risk throughout the required period.
Plan the household around the longest plausible path
The stages are sequential. First, the investor files the immigrant petition after the capital is committed; adjudication times vary and can be long. Second, a visa number must be available, which depends on the investor's country of chargeability in the Visa Bulletin; Canadian-chargeable investors have generally been current, but this must be checked at the time.
Third, the family applies for the immigrant visa abroad or adjusts status if lawfully present in the United States. Fourth, conditional residence runs for two years, and the removal petition is filed in the final ninety days, followed by its own adjudication during which status continues. Throughout, the capital must remain invested for the period the regulations require, and the job-creation window is tied to the project's schedule rather than the family's.
A Lac-Beauport couple should therefore avoid selling their Québec home or ending Canadian employment on the strength of a filing receipt, and should ask the project sponsor what happens if the jobs are not complete when the removal petition is due.