Forms

Form I-526

Also called I-526, I526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor.

Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, is the EB-5 petition for an investor going direct under INA 203(b)(5), investing alone in a new commercial enterprise outside the Regional Center Program.

What it decides

Since the RIA split the filing in 2022 the bare number covers standalone cases only. USCIS says it will reject any Form I-526 indicating that the investment is associated with a regional center and that such a petition belongs on Form I-526E, and 8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(H)(i) requires anyone pooling capital with other EB-5 investors to file under subparagraph (E) instead. The difference that bites is job counting: the indirect job allowances, up to 90 percent of the ten in general and up to 75 percent where the estimated jobs come from construction lasting under two years, sit at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E)(iv)(I) and (II) and are written for aliens seeking admission under that subparagraph, so a standalone petitioner has to show all ten jobs created directly within the new commercial enterprise, which may take in its wholly owned subsidiaries under a single holding company. The fee is $3,675 and no Integrity Fund payment attaches, because G-1055 puts the $1,000 on an initial I-526E only. Current edition 01/20/25.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5), with the indirect job caps at (b)(5)(E)(iv)(I) and (II), and 8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(H)(i) on pooling, read in the govinfo text of the code; USCIS Form I-526 page, edition 01/20/25, last updated 1 June 2026, which gives the title and the standalone use but states no dollar amount; the rejection rule is published on the Form I-526E page, not on the I-526 page; direct job counting for standalone investors from USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 2, last updated by policy alert 26 October 2023; fee from Form G-1055 edition 05/29/26.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into form i-526 rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Form I-526EForm I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor, is the petition an investor files with USCIS to claim EB-5 classification under INA 203(b)(5)(E) for capital pooled in an offering for which a designated regional center has already filed Form I-956F.
Direct EB-5Direct 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.
Ten full-time jobsTen full-time jobs for qualifying employees is the EB-5 job creation requirement: each investor's capital must produce its own ten, which is the number an offering's economic report has to show for every investor it takes in.
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 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary