The programme

Direct EB-5

Also called standalone investment, direct investment, non regional center EB-5, Form I-526.

Direct EB-5, which USCIS calls the standalone program, is an EB-5 investment made without a regional center and filed on Form I-526, where only the full-time jobs created by the new commercial enterprise itself, or by its wholly owned subsidiaries, count toward the ten.

What it decides

For a new commercial enterprise not located within a regional center, USCIS requires the full-time positions to be created directly, meaning the enterprise or its wholly owned subsidiaries must itself be the employer of the qualifying employees. Indirect and induced jobs do not count and no economic model can supply them, so the ten have to be actual employees of the enterprise. At the petition stage that is shown either with tax records and Forms I-9 for ten employees already hired, or with a comprehensive business plan showing that ten will be needed within two years, a period USCIS deems to begin six months after the I-526 is adjudicated. Capital may be spread across several businesses only if it all passes through one enterprise made up of a holding company and its wholly owned subsidiaries; investing separately in two enterprises does not qualify. The engagement requirement, day-to-day managerial control or policy formulation, is the same in both routes and is not what separates them. What separates them is pooling: for petitions filed on or after 15 March 2022, pooling an investment with one or more other EB-5 investors is permitted only through the regional center program, so a standalone enterprise carries a single EB-5 investor, although owners who are not seeking EB-5 classification are still allowed. There is no I-956F project filing and no $1,000 EB-5 Integrity Fund charge, which is collected only with a regional center petition, though the I-526 filing fee is $3,675, the same as the I-526E. The standalone route has no expiry date, while the regional center program is authorized through 30 September 2027.

Governed by 8 CFR 204.6(e), definitions of "employee" and "full-time employment", which extend to indirectly created jobs only in the Regional Center Program; 8 CFR 204.6(j)(4)(i) for the job creation evidence and the two year business plan; 8 CFR 204.6(j)(5) for petitioner engagement; 8 CFR 204.6(g)(1) for owners who are not EB-5 petitioners (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-8/section-204.6). 8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(H)(i) for the pooling limit and the I-956F filing precondition (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1154&num=0&edition=prelim). 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E)(i) for regional center authorization through 30 September 2027 and 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(J)(ii)(II) for the $1,000 Integrity Fund petition fee (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1153&num=0&edition=prelim). USCIS Policy Manual Vol 6 Part G Ch 2, Immigrant Petition Eligibility Requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/policy-manual/volume-6-part-g-chapter-2). Fee from Form G-1055 edition 05/29/26.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into direct eb-5 rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Troubled businessA troubled business is a business in existence for at least two years whose net loss under generally accepted accounting principles, over the 12 or 24 months before the priority date on the investor's I-526 or I-526E, is at least 20 percent of its net worth before that loss.
Expansion of an existing businessExpansion of an existing business is one of the three routes in 8 CFR 204.6(h) to establishing a new commercial enterprise: investing the required amount so that net worth or employee count rises by 40 percent, to at least 140 percent of the pre-expansion figure. The route reaches only petitions filed before 15 March 2022, because the RIA definition of new commercial enterprise at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(D)(vi) carries no expansion test.
EB-5 Integrity FundA US Treasury fund created by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(J) to pay for EB-5 oversight, financed by an annual fee on every designated regional center plus $1,000 collected with each initial Form I-526E.
Sunset and reauthorizationThe regional center program's visa authorization runs through 30 September 2027 under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E), and only an act of Congress can extend it.

Checked against primary sources on 6 August 2026. Back to the glossary