EB-5 Business Plans That Meet the Matter of Ho Standard

USCIS expects a comprehensive, credible plan that conclusively demonstrates how your capital deployment will create at least 10 full-time U.S. jobs for qualifying workers. We build that argument with specific numbers, hiring timetables, and economic assumptions an economist and USCIS officer can test.

EB-5 at a Glance (EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022)

Investment Amounts: $800,000 in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA rural or high-unemployment) or eligible infrastructure project; $1,050,000 for standard direct enterprises.

Job Creation: Minimum 10 permanent, full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers per immigrant investor.

Filing Routes: Regional Center (Form I-526E; direct, indirect, and induced jobs count) or Direct/Standalone (Form I-526; direct payroll W-2 jobs only).

Reserved Set-Asides: 20% rural TEA, 10% high-unemployment TEA, 2% infrastructure projects.

Direct EB-5 vs Regional Center Plans

Element	Direct EB-5 (Form I-526)	Regional Center (Form I-526E)
Jobs Counted	Direct W-2 employees only on enterprise payroll	Direct, indirect, and induced jobs modeled economically
Plan Focus	Payroll proof, job descriptions, 2-year operational hiring	Project budget, construction timeline, economist inputs
Our Role	Complete comprehensive Matter of Ho plan + 5-year model	Project plan + financial inputs for economist (RIMS II / IMPLAN)

What a Matter of Ho-Compliant Plan Includes

• Complete business description, market opportunity, and corporate objectives

• Targeted customer demographics, competitor pricing, and demand drivers

• Required local, state, and federal permits, licenses, and zoning status

• Marketing, sales pipeline, and client acquisition strategy

• Organization structure and 24-month staffing timetable with job duties

• 5-year pro forma financial model tying capital deployment directly to jobs

EB-5 Frequently Asked Questions

Matter of Ho is the binding USCIS precedent (1998) defining the components of an acceptable EB-5 business plan. It mandates sufficient granular detail for an adjudicator to draw reasonable conclusions regarding business viability and job creation feasibility.

For regional center projects, yes; an economist calculates indirect and induced jobs using input-output models (RIMS II or IMPLAN). We write the comprehensive project business plan and build the capital expenditure schedules that the economist's study models. For direct EB-5, only direct payroll jobs count, so an economist report is generally not required.

Yes. Unlike the E-2 visa, EB-5 has no treaty nationality restriction. Indian investors frequently utilize EB-5, particularly the reserved set-aside categories (Rural and High-Unemployment TEAs) which provide unreserved visa numbers. We also prepare the complete Indian RBI LRS Source of Funds report.

Pair Plan with Source of Funds

Get your EB-5 business plan and Source of Funds report from one team so all investment figures match across your I-526/I-526E petition.

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EB-5 Business Plan (I-526E / I-526)