Who does what

Direct and third-party promoter

Also called promoter, migration agent, overseas agent.

A direct or third-party promoter is any person, migration agents and their subagents and employees included, who promotes a regional center, a new commercial enterprise, an affiliated job-creating entity or an issuer of EB-5 securities to immigrant investors, and who must register with USCIS on Form I-956K before doing so.

What it decides

8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(K) makes promoters follow both the rules the Secretary of Homeland Security prescribes and any applicable federal or state securities law. Those rules include registration with USCIS, a certification by each promoter that none of the bars in subparagraph (H)(i) applies, guidelines for representing the visa process accurately to foreign investors, and guidelines on which fee arrangements are permissible. Each regional center, new commercial enterprise and affiliated job-creating entity must keep a written agreement with every promoter acting for it, and USCIS reads the registration duty down to subagents and to employees of promoting firms. Registration costs nothing and should be filed before any promotion begins. A promoter who breaks the rules is suspended or permanently barred from the programme. Separately, every EB-5 petition must carry a disclosure signed by the investor of all fees, ongoing interest and other compensation paid to agents, finders or broker-dealers in connection with the investment.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(K), clauses (i) to (iv), cited as INA 203(b)(5)(K); USCIS Policy Manual, 6 USCIS-PM G.6, Direct and Third-Party Promoters, whose current text rests on the policy alert of 26 October 2023, for the reach to subagents and employees and for the point that a regional center already captured on Form I-956 or I-956F need not register separately; Instructions for Form I-956K, edition 04/01/24, for the instruction to register before operating on an entity's behalf; USCIS Form I-956K page, last updated 5 June 2026; Form G-1055, edition 05/29/26, for the $0 fee. The Policy Manual chapter does not state the fee, and G-1055 does not say who must register.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into direct and third-party promoter rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Form I-956KForm I-956K, Registration for Direct and Third-Party Promoters, is the USCIS registration that each person promoting a regional center EB-5 offering must file, including migration agents, subagents and employees of promoter firms.
Administrative feeA charge the investor pays to the new commercial enterprise, its manager or the regional center on top of the qualifying investment, covering offering, marketing and management costs. No immigration statute or regulation sets or caps the amount, and it does not count toward the $800,000 or $1,050,000.
Finder's feeA finder's fee is the transaction-based payment made to whoever introduced an investor to an EB-5 offering, and 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(K)(iv) requires every EB-5 petition to carry a disclosure, signed by the investor, of the fees and other compensation paid in connection with the investment.
Broker-dealerA broker-dealer is a firm registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission under section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to effect securities transactions for customers, and in EB-5 it is the registration a person generally needs before taking transaction-based pay for placing investors in an offering.
Bona fides certificationBona fides certification is the integrity screen at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(H) that bars whole categories of person from being involved with a regional center, new commercial enterprise or job-creating entity, together with the attestation each such person files on Form I-956H so USCIS can run background and criminal record checks against it.

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