Read the general immigrant investor briefing overview
Hypothetical example: a Mission family is selling a berry farm and comparing an EB-5 regional-center investment with the Gold Card program. The two move money for opposite reasons. EB-5 capital is invested in a job-creating enterprise, must remain at risk and may be returned or lost; the Gold Card gift is paid to the Department of Commerce for deposit in a separate U.S. Treasury fund after a processing fee and vetting, is not an investment and produces no return. Choosing between them means understanding which obligations each imposes, not which headline number is larger.
What EB-5 requires of the family
Under the 2022 reform act the required capital is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project, with statutory adjustment scheduled from January 1, 2027. The money must be at risk in a new commercial enterprise that creates at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers, the investor must hold management or policy-formulation rights, and every dollar must be traced to a lawful source, here the farm sale and whatever preceded it. Residence is conditional for two years, and Form I-829 must be filed in the ninety days before the second anniversary to remove conditions. Spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one are derivatives. Capital may come back at the end; it may also not.
What the Gold Card requires, as officially described
The official program page, as checked on September 7, 2026, describes a nonrefundable US$15,000 processing fee per person, vetting, and after successful vetting a US$1 million gift to the Department of Commerce for deposit in a separate U.S. Treasury fund for an individual, with each accompanying spouse and child adding a fee and a further gift. Successful applicants then proceed through EB-1 or EB-2, subject to those categories' eligibility standards, admissibility and visa availability. There is no enterprise, no job requirement and no return; the gift is not an EB-5 investment and should never be described as one. Because the program is new relative to the statute-based categories, its terms must be re-verified on the official page before any money moves.
Ask which obligations the family can actually meet
EB-5 suits a family willing to tie up capital for years, accept business risk and document the farm's history in detail; it leads to permanent residence through its own category once the jobs are proven. The Gold Card, as described, suits a family able to make an outright gift and whose principal can proceed under the official EB-1 or EB-2 framework, in which the gift is treated as evidence for the specified basis while remaining eligibility requirements still apply. Neither is a purchase of citizenship, and neither excuses inadmissibility. The family should have the farm-sale funds traced once, in a form that serves either route, then decide with advisers on the tax treatment of an investment versus a gift, which is a question this page does not answer.
What else is on your mind?
Does an EB-5 immigration review tell me whether an investment is good?Is the Gold Card another name for EB-5?Should I assume one Gold Card payment covers my family?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.