EB-5 Standalone Investor and Form I-526

USCIS separated the standalone investor petition from Form I-526E after enactment of the RIA.

The petition is filed by the individual investor for EB-5 classification.

A post-RIA investor who is not pooling the EB-5 investment with one or more additional qualified immigrant investors uses Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor. Current USCIS instructions distinguish that filing from Form I-526E, which is used by investors participating in the regional center program. Form selection should reflect the actual investment structure, not merely the investor's ownership percentage or level of business involvement. The standalone petition must contain the project and investor evidence necessary for USCIS to evaluate the enterprise, investment, lawful source and path, management participation, and job creation because there is no separate Form I-956F project adjudication.

A person seeking to pool an EB-5 investment with one or more other qualified immigrant investors generally must proceed through the Regional Center Program.

Post-RIA pooling of EB-5 capital from multiple qualified immigrant investors generally belongs in the Regional Center Program. A standalone structure should therefore be reviewed carefully if more than one EB-5 investor will contribute to the same enterprise or project. Non-EB-5 capital can exist alongside the investor's funds, but the filing should distinguish ordinary domestic or foreign investment from pooled EB-5 participation. The organizational and financing documents should match the form selected. Attempting to characterize a pooled immigrant-investor offering as several unrelated standalone petitions can create a structural eligibility problem even if each participant individually contributes the required amount of capital.

The investor may establish, purchase, or invest in an operating business while satisfying the EB-5 management requirement.

Standalone investors often have a direct role in the operating business, but ownership or day-to-day control alone does not replace the EB-5 management requirement. The investor must engage in management of the new commercial enterprise through day-to-day managerial responsibility or policy formulation under the applicable framework. Corporate documents, operating agreements, bylaws, board rights, job descriptions, and business records can establish that role. The petition should describe what authority the investor actually has and how it will be exercised. A nominal officer title unsupported by governing documents or actual responsibilities is weaker than a consistent record of defined management and policy rights.

Payroll, Forms I-9, tax records, or a Matter of Ho compliant prospective hiring plan can establish the employment requirement.

Standalone cases generally rely on direct job creation by the new commercial enterprise. The petition must establish at least ten qualifying full-time positions for eligible workers, either through existing employment evidence or a credible prospective plan where future hiring is permitted. Payroll, Forms I-9, tax filings, job descriptions, and staffing records can document existing jobs. A prospective business plan should explain the positions, timing, wages, operating need, and financial ability to hire. Independent contractors and excluded workers do not satisfy the direct employee count. Because there is no regional center indirect-job methodology, the direct employment showing is central to standalone eligibility.

Unlike regional center cases, there is no Form I-956F project adjudication separating the project filing from the individual investor's petition.

The standalone investor petition combines personal source evidence and the project record in one filing. USCIS may need to evaluate entity formation, ownership, capital contribution, lawful source and path, business operations, management rights, direct job creation, and the comprehensive business plan without relying on an approved Form I-956F. The exhibits should therefore be organized by statutory element. Project documents should reconcile with financial records and the investor's description of the enterprise. If the investor purchased an existing business, restructured an enterprise, or uses multiple entities, the filing should explain how the structure satisfies the new commercial enterprise and job creation requirements.

• Form I-526
• Lawful source evidence
• Path of funds
• NCE formation records
• Business plan
• Investment evidence
• Management evidence
• Direct job evidence

A standalone filing checklist commonly includes the current Form I-526, identity records, lawful source and path evidence, proof of the capital transfer, new commercial enterprise formation and ownership documents, governing agreements, a comprehensive business plan, management evidence, licenses and operating records, and direct job evidence or credible hiring projections. Tax and banking documents should reconcile with the source narrative, while the business plan should reconcile with the amount invested and proposed staffing. The package should also identify any material facts requiring explanation. A structured exhibit index helps USCIS connect each document to the specific EB-5 requirement it is intended to prove.