EB-5 Visa Lawyer & Investor Visa Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia

Regional center investment. Most EB-5 investors put their money into a project sponsored by a USCIS-designated regional center. You are a passive investor, and the project can count jobs created indirectly in the wider economy (by law, up to 90% of the required jobs can be indirect). You file Form I-526E. Congress has authorized the Regional Center Program through September 30, 2027.

Direct investment. You invest in a business you help manage, often your own, and file Form I-526. Only the business’s own full-time employees count toward the 10 jobs, so you need a real hiring plan. You have more control and more responsibility.

Which is right for you depends on whether you want to run a business, where you want to live, your country of birth (see reserved visas below), and how much risk you are willing to take.

Program deadline to know. The 2022 law protects regional center petitions filed on or before September 30, 2026 if Congress later lets the program lapse. Petitions filed after that date, including any filed now, do not have that protection if the program is not renewed after September 30, 2027. Ask us how this affects a project you are considering.

Since 2022, 32% of EB-5 visas each year are reserved: 20% for rural projects, 10% for high-unemployment areas and 2% for infrastructure projects. USCIS is also required to give priority to processing petitions for rural projects.

For investors born in India or China, where the regular (“unreserved”) EB-5 category has a backlog, a project that qualifies for a reserved category can mean a much shorter wait for a green card. The project’s location, and whether its targeted employment area designation is properly documented, matter as much as the project itself. Check the current position of each category in the State Department Visa Bulletin, which lists unreserved, rural, high-unemployment and infrastructure dates separately.

1. Choose an investment and complete due diligence on the project, the regional center or business, and the offering documents.
2. Document your source of funds and transfer the investment.
3. File Form I-526E (regional center) or Form I-526 (direct investment) with USCIS.
4. Apply for the green card.
   • In the U.S.: if you are in the U.S. in lawful status and a visa number is available for your category and country, you can file Form I-485 to adjust status at the same time as the petition (concurrent filing) or while it is pending, and apply for a work permit and travel document while you wait.
   • Abroad: after the petition is approved, you complete consular processing at a U.S. embassy or consulate.
5. Receive a two-year conditional green card for you, your spouse and your unmarried children under 21.
6. File Form I-829 in the 90 days before your conditional green card expires, showing that the investment was sustained and the jobs were created. When it is approved you receive a 10-year green card.

After five years of permanent residence (counting from the conditional green card), you may be able to apply for U.S. citizenship.

Concurrent filing lets investors who are already in the U.S. file the I-485 green card application with, or while USCIS is deciding, the I-526E or I-526 petition, as long as a visa number is available. While the case is pending, you can apply for a work permit and travel permission.

In May 2026, USCIS issued a policy memo describing adjustment of status as a discretionary benefit and telling officers to weigh negative factors more closely. The memo does not end EB-5 adjustment of status or concurrent filing: that right comes from the Immigration and Nationality Act, which a memo cannot change. In practice, it means your application should address any problems in your immigration history (gaps in status, unauthorized work, prior denials) and include strong positive evidence. Read our analysis: EB-5 adjustment of status after the new USCIS memo.

Many of our EB-5 clients are already in the U.S. on an H-1B work visa or F-1 student visa, often because the employment-based green card backlog for people born in India is so long.

H-1B holders

• A passive regional center investment is generally compatible with H-1B status. Working in or managing your own direct-investment business may not be, unless that work is authorized.
• H-1B is a “dual intent” visa, so filing for a green card does not by itself cause a status problem.
• A pending EB-5 case does not extend H-1B status beyond the six-year limit the way some employer-sponsored green card cases can. Plan around that date.
• If a visa number is available, concurrent filing can give you a work permit that does not depend on your employer.

F-1 students

• Students often invest with a gift from parents or family. The gift and the donor’s own lawful source of funds must both be documented.
• F-1 is not a dual-intent visa. Filing an EB-5 petition shows intent to immigrate, which can cause problems renewing an F-1 visa or re-entering the U.S. if you travel before you can file the I-485. Talk to us before you file or travel.
• Once an I-485 is filed, you can apply for a work permit, which can help after graduation or OPT.

More: EB-5 for H-1B visa holders.

Source of funds is often the hardest part of an EB-5 case. USCIS needs to see both the lawful source of the money and its path, every transfer from where it was earned to the project’s account. Common sources:

• salary and savings, with tax returns and bank records;
• the sale of real estate, shares or a business;
• business profits and dividends;
• gifts from family members, with proof of the donor’s own lawful source;
• loans secured by your own assets.

Money that moves through other countries, currency exchanges or family members’ accounts needs extra documentation. We start on this before you choose a project, because some funds take months to document.

EB-5 petitions are decided by USCIS’s Immigrant Investor Program Office, not by the local USCIS office, so living in Atlanta does not make your I-526E or I-526 petition faster or slower. If you adjust status in Georgia, any green card interview is usually at the USCIS Atlanta Field Office.

How long your case takes depends on:

• the visa category: rural petitions are prioritized, and reserved categories often move differently from unreserved ones;
• your country of birth: investors born in India and China can face a wait for a visa number in the unreserved category even after approval;
• the project: a project that has already been reviewed by USCIS can move more smoothly.

Check current USCIS processing times for Form I-526E, I-526 and I-829 and the current Visa Bulletin, and ask us for a timeline based on your country and the project you are considering.

EB-5 investments carry real business risk, and there have been projects where investor money was mismanaged or stolen. Before you invest, we review:

• who controls the money and when it is released from escrow;
• the project budget, other financing, and the developer’s and regional center’s track record;
• the job-creation analysis and whether the jobs can be documented for your I-829;
• fees, the redemption (repayment) terms and the risks the offering documents disclose.

If you are already in a troubled project, your immigration case and your money are separate problems. If a regional center is terminated or a project is debarred, the 2022 law gives investors who were not involved in the wrongdoing ways to keep their eligibility, for example by moving to a new project, but the deadlines are short. Investors whose Form I-526 was filed before the 2022 law took effect will use new Form I-527, created by USCIS’s September 2026 EB-5 fee rule, to amend the petition for this purpose. We advise on protecting your green card case. To recover lost money you may also need a securities or litigation attorney, and you can report suspected fraud to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Gold Card, created by an executive order in September 2025, is a separate route to a green card, not to citizenship. It requires a non-refundable $1 million gift to the U.S. government ($2 million if a company pays) plus a $15,000 processing fee per person, and uses the EB-1 and EB-2 green card categories.

Gold Card applicants born in India or China may still wait for an EB-1 or EB-2 visa number. See our full guide: Trump Gold Card: how it works and whether it leads to citizenship.

USCIS filing fees are paid in addition to the investment. USCIS fees for EB-5 petitions go up on November 30, 2026, under a final rule published September 30, 2026:

The new I-526 and I-526E amounts include a $75 EB-5 technology fee. Filings postmarked on or after November 30, 2026 must include the new fees. Green card application (I-485 or immigrant visa) fees are separate. Always confirm on the USCIS fee schedule before filing.

Our legal fees depend on the type of investment, how complicated your source of funds is, and the number of family members. We explain them clearly before you hire us. A consultation is a 30-minute appointment for $175, at our Norcross office or online.