Process and timing

Conditional permanent residence

Also called CPR, conditional green card, two year green card.

Conditional permanent residence is the status an EB-5 investor and their spouse and children hold for the first two years: full lawful permanent residence, evidenced by a Green Card valid for two years, whose conditional basis must be removed on Form I-829 or the status ends.

What it decides

8 CFR 216.1 is explicit that a conditional permanent resident is lawfully admitted for permanent residence within the meaning of INA 101(a)(20), and that unless a rule says otherwise the rights, privileges, responsibilities and duties of every other permanent resident apply equally, including the right to apply for naturalization and to file petitions for qualifying relatives. The statute confirms the point for citizenship: the conditional period counts as lawful permanent residence for naturalization. What is conditional is whether the status continues, not its quality. The card cannot be renewed. Status terminates as of the second anniversary of admission or adjustment if no Form I-829 is filed in the 90 day window or the investor skips a required interview, and USCIS may terminate earlier if it finds the investment was a means of evading the immigration laws or that the capital was never invested. Living as though the status were provisional gives up rights already held.

Governed by 8 CFR 216.1 for the definition and the equal rights; 8 U.S.C. 1186b(a)(1) for the conditional basis, 1186b(b) for early termination, 1186b(c)(2)(A) for termination at the second anniversary, and 1186b(e), Treatment of period for purposes of naturalization, for the period counting toward citizenship; 8 CFR 216.6(a)(1)(i) for the automatic extension once the petition is filed. USCIS, Conditional Permanent Residence, last updated 24 April 2025, is the source for the two year card that cannot be renewed, and is good for that alone: it does not carry the rights or the naturalization point.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into conditional permanent residence rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Removal of conditionsRemoval of conditions is the last EB-5 filing, Form I-829, submitted in the 90 days before the second anniversary of conditional residence, in which the investor shows the required capital was invested and kept invested for the period the law requires and that ten full-time jobs were created or can be expected within a reasonable time.
90 day filing windowThe 90 day filing window is the 90 day period immediately preceding the second anniversary of the date an EB-5 investor obtained conditional permanent residence, and it is the period in which Form I-829 must be filed to remove the conditions; filing early gets the petition rejected and failing to file terminates status on that anniversary.
Extension noticeAn extension notice is the Form I-797 receipt USCIS issues on a properly filed Form I-829 which, carried together with the expired conditional Green Card, is evidence of continued conditional permanent resident status, of work authorization and of the right to return after temporary travel abroad.
Adjustment of statusAdjustment of status is the process under 8 U.S.C. 1255 by which someone already in the United States becomes a permanent resident without leaving, on Form I-485, instead of collecting an immigrant visa at a consulate abroad. An EB-5 investor who adjusts is granted conditional permanent residence for two years, the same status a consular applicant receives on admission.
Lawful permanent residentA lawful permanent resident is a person lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant under 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(20), and it is the status an EB-5 case delivers: conditional for the first two years, then unconditional once Form I-829 is approved.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary