Overview: Every EB-5 investor must show that the money invested came from a lawful source and reached the business by a traceable path. This EB-5 source of funds requirement covers the investment itself and, for newer petitions, the administrative fees too. Here is what USCIS asks for and how gifts, loans, and escrow fit in.
The basic rule
The USCIS Policy Manual says the investor must be the legal owner of the capital and must have obtained it through lawful means. Assets acquired directly or indirectly through unlawful activity do not count. The investor must document both the direct and indirect source of the money, and the path it took to the new commercial enterprise.
What USCIS asks for
For petitions filed on or after May 14, 2022, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act lists the evidence, as applicable:
- Business and tax records, including foreign business registration records and corporate or partnership tax returns.
- Personal tax returns of any kind filed during the past 7 years, with any taxing authority inside or outside the United States.
- Evidence identifying any other source of the capital or of the administrative fees.
- Certified copies of any judgments, and evidence of pending civil, criminal, or administrative actions involving possible monetary judgments against the investor, from any court worldwide.
- The identity of everyone who transfers funds into the United States on the investor’s behalf for the investment.
Older petitions, filed before May 14, 2022, follow the earlier regulation, which looked at tax returns from the past 5 years and court records from the past 15 years.
Gifts and loans
For petitions filed on or after May 14, 2022, the law expressly allows gifted and borrowed funds, as long as they were given or lent in good faith and not to get around the limits on permitted sources. The investor must then show the lawful source of those funds on the giver’s side, providing the same kinds of evidence for the donor, or for the lender unless it is a bank.
Borrowed money has additional rules. The investor must be personally and primarily liable for the debt, it must be secured by assets the investor owns, and the business’s own assets cannot secure it. The debt counts as capital only up to the fair market value of the pledged assets.
What does not count
- A loan to the business. Lending money to the new commercial enterprise, or receiving a note or other debt in return, is not an investment of capital.
- A guaranteed return. Any part of the money with a guaranteed return is not at risk, and capital must be at risk.
- Fees taken out of the investment. Administrative, management, and similar fees must be paid in addition to the minimum investment, not from it.
Escrow
Funds can be held in escrow until the investor obtains conditional residence, as long as release depends only on petition approval and on visa issuance and admission, or approval of the green card application. A foreign escrow account is allowed if it is more likely than not that the money will reach the U.S. business once the investor gets conditional residence.
Rules in motion
DHS proposed new EB-5 regulations in July 2026, and a separate EB-5 fee rule takes effect November 30, 2026. Our guide to EB-5 investment amounts tracks both. Check the current Policy Manual before preparing a petition.