Jobs
Combinations of part-time positions
Also called part-time jobs, aggregating hours, combining part-time positions.
Two or more separate part-time positions can never be added together to make one qualifying EB-5 job, even when their hours combine to the 35 a week that counts as full-time. Only a single full-time position shared by two or more qualifying employees counts.
What it decides
The definition of full-time employment at 8 CFR 204.6(e) closes with an exclusion: "This definition shall not include combinations of part-time positions even if, when combined, such positions meet the hourly requirement per week." The hourly requirement in the same definition is a minimum of 35 working hours per week. Two roles of 20 hours each are therefore two part-time positions, not one full-time job, whatever the payroll totals show. The mirror image is job sharing, which does count. The same definition provides that a job-sharing arrangement whereby two or more qualifying employees share a full-time position counts as full-time employment, provided the hourly requirement per week is met. What separates the two is the position, not the headcount. Job sharing begins with one full-time position and divides it; a combination begins with separate part-time positions and adds them up. Everyone filling the shared position must be a qualifying employee, which under 8 CFR 204.6(e) excludes the investor, the investor's spouse, sons or daughters, and any nonimmigrant. To accept a shared position, USCIS looks for a written job-sharing agreement, a weekly schedule identifying the shared position and the hours each employee works, and evidence that the employees share the responsibilities or benefits of one permanent full-time position. A direct-job business plan that reaches ten by summing part-time hours does not survive that test. Regional center petitions work differently in form, since indirect jobs are estimated through an economic methodology rather than counted position by position, but the 35 hour standard still attaches to the indirectly created position. The regulation now carries this rule on its own. Before 2022, the statute defined full-time employment at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(D); the Reform and Integrity Act replaced that subparagraph with a general definitions list that does not define the term, while 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(A)(ii) still requires full-time employment for at least ten workers without defining it.
Where this is explained properly
Pages here that go into combinations of part-time positions rather than mentioning it.
Related terms
- Job sharingA job-sharing arrangement, where two or more qualifying employees share one full-time position, counts as full-time employment for EB-5 provided the position still requires at least 35 working hours a week.
- Full-time employmentFull-time employment in EB-5 means employment of a qualifying employee in a position that requires a minimum of 35 working hours per week, not 40. The 35 hours are measured by what the position requires rather than by the hours any one person works, which is why job sharing counts, but the person filling the position must still be a qualifying employee.
- Qualifying employeeA qualifying employee is a US citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or another immigrant lawfully authorized to be employed in the United States, and only their full-time positions count toward an investor's ten. The statute adds United States nationals to that list.
- Direct jobsA direct job is a position held by an employee of the new commercial enterprise itself or, in a regional center case, of the job-creating entity, as distinct from an indirect job held at a supplier or other business outside them.
Checked against primary sources on . Back to the glossary