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Who does what

Persons involved with a regional center

Also called persons involved.

A person involved with a regional center, a new commercial enterprise or an affiliated job-creating entity is anyone who holds substantive authority, directly or indirectly, over the pooling, investment, release or use of EB-5 money, and 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(H) makes that definition decide whose record can disqualify the whole project.

What it decides

Substantive authority is a function, not a title: the statute names principal, representative, administrator, owner, officer, board member, manager, executive, general partner, fiduciary and agent as examples, and everyone inside that line files Form I-956H as a separate submission alongside Form I-956 or Form I-956F. A person is barred by a criminal or civil fraud or deceit finding in the past 10 years, by civil fraud liability over $1,000,000 with no time limit at all, by a sentence of more than a year, by a live securities, banking, insurance or CFTC order, by any history of trafficking, espionage, money laundering, terrorism, human rights offences or foreign asset control violations, or by appearing on the Justice Department's List of Currently Disciplined Practitioners within the past 10 years. Involvement with a regional center, though not with an enterprise or job-creating entity, also demands United States nationality or lawful permanent residence and no pending rescission or removal case. Once the entity knows of a prohibited person it has 14 days either to move to end that involvement or to tell USCIS, and the price of silence is suspension or termination.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(H): clause (v) for the definition and the list of positions, (i)(I)(aa) to (cc) for the fraud, liability and imprisonment bars, (i)(II) for the regulator orders, (i)(III) for trafficking, espionage, money laundering, terrorism, human rights and foreign asset control, (i)(IV) for the Justice Department list and state bar discipline, (ii)(I) for the nationality and status requirement that applies at the regional center level only, and (iv) for the 14 day cure window, the 30 day deemed knowledge rule and the suspension or termination that follows. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 4, current as of 5 August 2026, restates all of it and confirms the Form I-956H requirement. The uscis.gov Form I-956H page, last reviewed 5 June 2026, edition date 04/01/24, confirms that each person files a distinct submission alongside Form I-956 or Form I-956F. No regulation implements this subparagraph: DHS published its first proposed rule implementing the Act on 2 July 2026, RIN 1615-AC94.

Related terms

  • Regional centerA regional center is an economic unit, public or private, that USCIS has designated to sponsor pooled EB-5 investment within a defined, contiguous and limited geographic area, and it is the only route on which a petition may count indirect and induced jobs.
  • Form I-956HForm I-956H, Bona Fides of Persons Involved with Regional Center Program, is the background attestation that each person involved with a regional center, a new commercial enterprise or an affiliated job-creating entity must complete and file as a distinct submission alongside Form I-956 or Form I-956F.
  • Form I-956Form I-956, Application for Regional Center Designation, is the application an economic unit files to be designated by USCIS as an EB-5 regional center under INA 203(b)(5)(E), or to amend a designation it already holds.
  • Foreign government involvementForeign government involvement is what 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(H)(ii)(II) forbids: no agency, official or representative of a foreign government entity may provide capital to, or be directly or indirectly involved with the ownership or administration of, a regional center, a new commercial enterprise or a job-creating entity.
  • 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.

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