Practice Areas · EB-5
EB-5 Economic Impact Analysis
Independent economic analysis documenting the job creation an EB-5 project must demonstrate. Unlike a lender's feasibility study, the EB-5 question is one of employment: whether the project creates the required jobs, counted the way USCIS accepts. This page sets out the requirement, how jobs are counted, and the methodology behind a defensible analysis.
EB-5 is about jobs, not a lender's viability test.
An EB-5 project must document that it creates at least ten full-time jobs per investor. The deliverable is an economic impact analysis, not a lender's feasibility study, and it answers a different question: how many qualifying jobs the project creates, and whether they are counted in a way USCIS will accept.
The other financing programs ask whether a project will succeed and service its debt. EB-5 asks whether it creates enough jobs to support the investors' petitions. That reframes the analysis entirely: the center of gravity is employment, the inputs are project spending, revenue, and payroll, and the output is a job count that must survive USCIS review. The analysis supports the immigration filing; it is economic work, not legal advice, and it sits alongside the petition prepared by immigration counsel rather than replacing it.
Because the job count is the deliverable, the credibility of the method is everything. USCIS requires that the analysis rest on economically and statistically valid and transparent forecasting tools, which means the model, its inputs, and its multipliers all have to be disclosed and defensible. A number that cannot be traced back to a recognized model and documented inputs is not a job count USCIS can rely on.
The job-creation rule.
The standard is specific, and the definition of a qualifying job is narrower than it first appears.
- Jobs per investorAt least ten full-time jobs must be created for each EB-5 investor's capital.
- Definition of full-timeA position requiring a minimum of 35 working hours per week; job-sharing of two qualifying positions can count, but part-time positions cannot be combined.
- Who counts as an employeeQualifying employees are counted; independent contractors do not count toward the requirement.
- DurabilityJobs must be permanent rather than seasonal or transient; positions expected to last at least two years are generally treated as permanent.
Direct investment and regional centers.
How jobs may be counted is the single biggest structural difference in EB-5, and it drives how most projects are organized.
| Feature | Direct investment | Regional center |
|---|---|---|
| Jobs counted | Direct only | Direct, indirect, and induced |
| Indirect and induced | Not countable | Up to 90% of the requirement |
| How jobs are measured | Actual positions at the enterprise | Input-output economic model |
| Typical use | Smaller, operating businesses | Larger real estate and development projects |
| Investor petition | Form I-526 | Form I-526E |
A direct investment must create the full ten jobs as actual positions of the new commercial enterprise or its wholly owned subsidiaries, which suits an operating business that will hire a countable workforce. A regional-center investment may count direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and up to 90 percent of the requirement may be satisfied with indirect and induced jobs estimated through economic modeling. That flexibility is why most larger real estate and development projects are structured through a regional center: construction spending and operational activity generate substantial modeled employment that a direct structure could not capture.
How indirect and induced jobs are modeled.
Indirect and induced jobs are estimated with an input-output economic model, which converts a project's spending, revenue, and payroll into employment effects across the regional economy. The recognized practitioner tools are RIMS II, published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and IMPLAN. USCIS does not mandate a specific model; it requires that whichever is used be transparent and defensible.
An input-output model captures three layers of employment: the direct jobs at the project, the indirect jobs at its suppliers, and the induced jobs created when wages are spent in the local economy. The analysis feeds the model with documented inputs, hard construction costs, projected revenue, tenant activity where applicable, and applies the regional multipliers to produce a job estimate. The discipline that makes the result credible is transparency: every input is sourced, the model and its geography are stated, and the multipliers are shown, so a reviewer can follow the number from assumption to conclusion. USCIS retired the tenant-occupancy job-creation methodology in 2018, which raised the bar for how carefully modeled jobs must be supported, and reinforced that construction-expenditure and operational methodologies carry the weight in most real estate deals.
The I-956F and I-526E filings.
The economic impact analysis supports specific filings, in a specific order. The sequence matters.
For a regional-center project, the regional center files Form I-956F to approve a particular investment offering, and that application is supported by the project's economic impact analysis and business plan. An investor's Form I-526E petition then relies on the same project documentation. The order is not interchangeable: the I-956F must be filed, and ultimately approved, for the associated I-526E petitions to be approved, so the economic analysis has to be in place and defensible at the project level before individual investors file. A direct investor instead files Form I-526, supported by an analysis of the actual jobs the enterprise will create. In every case the analysis is economic work that supports the petition prepared by immigration counsel; the practice does not provide legal or immigration advice.
Where EB-5 economic analyses fail review.
The recurring failure modes on EB-5 filings, each an instance of the general review-failure taxonomy.
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Inputs the model cannot support
Construction costs or revenue figures fed into the model without documentation undermine every job number that follows; USCIS tests the inputs, not just the output.
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Opaque multipliers or geography
A job count presented without disclosing the model, the regional multipliers, or the geography used is not transparent, which is the standard the analysis must meet.
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Counting non-qualifying jobs
Including independent contractors, or part-time positions treated as full-time, inflates the count with jobs that do not qualify under the definition.
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A thin cushion over the requirement
An analysis that produces exactly the required jobs with no margin leaves the petitions exposed if any assumption is discounted on review; a defensible buffer is expected.
EB-5 economic-analysis questions.
How many jobs does EB-5 require?
Each EB-5 investor must create at least ten full-time jobs. Full-time means a position requiring a minimum of 35 working hours per week. A regional-center investment may satisfy up to 90 percent of that requirement with indirect and induced jobs quantified through an input-output economic model; a non-regional-center investment must create the ten positions directly within the new commercial enterprise.
How is EB-5 job creation calculated?
Direct jobs are counted as actual positions at the new commercial enterprise. Indirect and induced jobs, available to regional-center investors, are estimated with an input-output economic model that translates project spending, revenue, and payroll into employment effects across the wider economy. USCIS requires that the analysis rest on economically and statistically valid and transparent forecasting tools, so the model, its inputs, and its multipliers must be disclosed and defensible.
What is the difference between direct and regional-center EB-5 jobs?
A non-regional-center (direct) investment must create the full ten jobs directly, as W-2 positions of the new commercial enterprise or its wholly owned subsidiaries. A regional-center investment may count direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and up to 90 percent of the requirement may be met with indirect and induced jobs modeled through input-output analysis. This flexibility is the principal reason most larger EB-5 projects are structured through a regional center.
What is the EB-5 minimum investment?
Under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, the standard minimum investment is $1,050,000, and the reduced minimum for a project in a targeted employment area (a rural area or an area of high unemployment) is $800,000. These amounts are subject to their first automatic inflation adjustment on January 1, 2027, and every five years thereafter.
Structuring an EB-5 project?
Tell us the project, the structure, and whether it runs through a regional center. We will scope an economic impact analysis built on transparent methodology to support the filing.
Request a methodology briefingData sources and dates.
EB-5 requirements trace to statute and USCIS policy. Investment thresholds are subject to the scheduled 2027 inflation adjustment; this page is economic analysis, not legal advice.
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part G: EB-5 job-creation requirement of at least ten full-time positions per investor, full-time defined as a minimum of 35 working hours per week.
- USCIS guidance on regional-center job counting: direct, indirect, and induced jobs countable, with up to 90 percent of the requirement satisfied by indirect and induced jobs modeled through input-output analysis; tenant-occupancy methodology retired in 2018.
- EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022: standard minimum investment $1,050,000 and targeted-employment-area minimum $800,000, subject to the first automatic inflation adjustment on January 1, 2027 and every five years thereafter.
- USCIS forms: I-526 (standalone investor petition), I-526E (regional-center investor petition), and I-956F (regional-center application to approve an investment offering, filed before associated I-526E petitions).
- Recognized input-output models: RIMS II, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and IMPLAN. USCIS requires transparent, economically and statistically valid forecasting tools rather than a specific named model.