IN THIS GUIDE · Find the source-of-funds gaps in a Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval household's EB-5 file before the project does
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Treat inherited and gifted money as its own file
Hypothetical example: a Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval couple, a nurse and a municipal engineer, plan to fund an EB-5 investment from the sale of their house plus an inheritance from a parent's estate. The inheritance needs the will or estate documents, the executor's distribution statement and the receiving bank record, and, because the source must be lawful, some evidence of how the deceased accumulated the assets, such as property records or long-held account statements. A bank deposit labelled inheritance proves nothing on its own.
Untangle joint and mixed accounts
Where salaries, sale proceeds and inherited funds have passed through the same joint account, the file should reconstruct the account's history with statements and a schedule identifying each significant inflow and its source. The investor is the person named on the petition, so where the spouse's funds are used, a gift letter between spouses and the spouse's own source evidence may be required. Do not net figures; show the gross movements.
Read the project for what it promises about jobs and return
A regional-center offering allocates jobs to investors through an economic model; a direct investment counts only its own payroll. Ask how many jobs are allocated to each investor, whether the project is already creating them, and what the offering says about return of capital. Any guaranteed repayment undermines the at-risk requirement and should be treated as a warning.
Plan the residence stages with the family's ages in view
Approval leads to conditional residence for two years, obtained by consular processing or adjustment of status, followed by the removal-of-conditions petition in the final ninety days. Children must be under 21 and unmarried when they acquire residence, subject to Child Status Protection Act calculations, so the household should compare each child's age with the expected total timeline before choosing which spouse is the investor.
Direct and regional center methods are not interchangeable
A limited-partner interest with voting rights on policy matters is a recognized form of engagement in a regional-center structure; read the partnership agreement to confirm those rights exist. Job creation under a regional center petition is credited when a permitted methodology is applied to defined inputs — construction expenditures, revenues, or similar measures. Under the 2022 legislation the qualifying amounts are one million fifty thousand dollars generally and eight hundred thousand dollars for a targeted employment area or infrastructure project; these are subject to adjustment and should be verified against current official sources before committing. A first review should identify whether the project relies on direct, indirect, or induced employment methodology and then trace every claimed position to the appropriate supporting record.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.