Qualifying capital of US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure project, with a statutory adjustment taking effect from 1 January 2027; lawful source and path of funds; creation of at least ten qualifying full-time jobs; engagement in management or policy formulation; and two years of conditional residence ending with Form I-829.
Six conditions, and the job requirement is a minimum
Investors tend to fix on the money and treat everything else as administration, which reverses the order in which these petitions fail. Capital is the easiest element to satisfy and the hardest to document. Job creation is the element that decides the second stage, and ten is the floor for each investor, not a total to be shared.
Hypothetical example: an investor from Sainte-Cécile-de-Milton is told a project sits in a targeted employment area and that US$800,000 is therefore sufficient. The right follow-up is to ask which designation is relied upon, which census tracts or statistical area supports it, and whether that designation will still be valid at the moment of filing. Designations rest on unemployment or rural criteria and they are not permanent.
If the basis has lapsed, the amount required is the higher one, and discovering that after the funds have moved is an expensive way to learn it.