IN THIS GUIDE · Counting ten full-time jobs in a direct EB-5 restaurant investment
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
What a full-time job means for EB-5
A full-time position requires a minimum of thirty-five hours per week. Two part-time employees do not add up to one full-time job, although a job-sharing arrangement in which two employees share one full-time position can count as one. Seasonal or intermittent positions do not qualify unless the enterprise can show they are permanent full-time jobs. For a lakeside restaurant with a summer peak and a quiet winter, the plan must show ten positions that persist year-round, which may mean a different operating model than the Canadian restaurant used.
Who counts as a qualifying employee
Qualifying employees are U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents and other immigrants authorized to work; the investor, her spouse and children, and any nonimmigrant workers are excluded. Independent contractors do not count; the positions must be W-2 employment by the new commercial enterprise. A restaurant that relies on contracted cleaning, delivery drivers on their own accounts, or family members at the front desk will find that its headcount shrinks when measured against the rule.
Direct investment means the business's own books carry the case
In a direct EB-5 case there is no economic methodology for indirect jobs; the ten positions must appear on the enterprise's payroll records, Form I-9 files and quarterly wage reports. The business plan submitted with the petition must be credible and detailed enough to show the ten jobs will be created within the two-year conditional period, and the removal-of-conditions petition, Form I-829, will be judged against that plan. The capital must be fully invested and at risk, the source lawful and traced, and the investor engaged in management, which running the restaurant plainly satisfies.
Residence, conditions and the family
Approval of the investor petition is followed by immigrant-visa processing or adjustment, subject to visa availability, and then two-year conditional permanent residence for the investor, her spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one. Within the ninety days before the second anniversary she must file to remove conditions with evidence the investment was sustained and the jobs exist. Verify the current investment thresholds and fees on the USCIS pages before committing funds. The first planning review should tie the capital ledger, personnel forecast, and immigration calendar together. After admission, the investor enters a two-year conditional-resident period and ordinarily seeks removal of conditions by filing Form I-829 in the ninety days before its second anniversary. Keep payroll, tax filings, bank records, invoices, and organizational records from the beginning; recreating them years later is difficult. A direct case can fail at the final stage when the business spent the capital but never maintained evidence that the projected qualifying positions came into existence.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.