IN THIS GUIDE · Building evidence for a standalone enterprise
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Define the employing enterprise
Identify the entity receiving the capital and the entity employing workers. Standalone EB-5 generally requires qualifying jobs directly within the new commercial enterprise, including eligible wholly owned subsidiaries under the applicable structure. A contractor’s payroll is not automatically the investor enterprise’s direct employment. Map ownership and employment relationships before projecting a job count or dividing funds across businesses.
Build a credible operating plan
The business plan should connect customers, premises, operating costs and staffing to supported assumptions. Explain why each planned position is needed and when hiring is expected. A list of ten job titles does not demonstrate a viable operation. Use available contracts, market evidence and financial support to make projections understandable, while clearly distinguishing existing results from forecasts.
Create a payroll evidence system
Plan how hiring, hours, qualifying worker status and payroll will be documented. Investor and family employment does not count toward the required qualifying jobs. Keep records organized from the first hire, with appropriate access controls for employee information. The later immigration file should be able to verify employment without relying only on recollection or a consultant’s summary.
Account for the investor’s role
Document how the investor will engage in management or policy formulation under the enterprise arrangement. Owning capital does not erase this eligibility element. At the same time, a pending investor petition does not authorize the person to work in the United States. Review any proposed pre-residence operational activity separately and avoid treating an investment commitment as permission to run the business on site.
Establish which positions would actually count
A standalone case generally depends on direct positions created by the enterprise itself, which makes the composition of the workforce a design question rather than an administrative one. Establish early which of the roles the business needs would qualify. Full-time employment is generally understood as a minimum weekly hours threshold, and positions filled by independent contractors are generally not treated as employees of the enterprise for these purposes. Certain individuals may be excluded from counting as qualifying employees. Two part-time roles are not ordinarily equivalent to one full-time position unless they meet the applicable job-sharing conditions. Model the workforce against those constraints before the operating plan is finalized, since a business designed around contractors and part-time staffing may be commercially sensible and still not produce the positions the petition depends on.
Understand what the evidence will have to show later
The petition describes a plan; the later stage requires proof that the plan happened, and that proof comes from records the business must generate as it operates. Work backwards from what will be needed. That generally means payroll records identifying each position and the hours worked, employment eligibility documentation, tax filings, and the ability to demonstrate that each qualifying position was created and maintained for the relevant period. Set up the systems to produce those records from the first hire rather than assembling them retrospectively. Consider also what happens if the business trades differently from the plan, since the requirement attaches to what occurred rather than to what was projected. Identifying that exposure now allows it to be managed while the operating decisions are still being made.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.