Before, in practical terms. The petition must show the capital has been invested or is actively in the process of being invested, so the proceeds need to exist and be traceable at filing. Selling afterward leaves the petition without its capital.
The money must be in motion toward the project at filing
Hypothetical example: two Mission physiotherapists have a buyer for their clinic and a regional-center project they like, and they wonder whether to file first to hold their place. The petition is judged on capital actually committed, and the standard is that the funds be invested or actively in the process of being invested, which normally means held in the project's escrow under the subscription documents. Without the sale proceeds, that cannot be shown.
The workable order is to close the sale, move the funds through the corporation to the individuals with the records described elsewhere in this edition, subscribe and fund the escrow, then file. If the clinic sale is delayed and the project's subscription window is closing, the answer is to ask the project about its timeline, not to file a petition whose capital does not yet exist. Hypothetical example: A diagnostic-imaging entrepreneur wants to sell a practice and immediately subscribe to a project before a family member's funds arrive.
The first review should build a dated source-and-use timeline, showing when each contribution becomes available, when it is committed and whether the project can accept staged funds. The subscription documents, escrow conditions and bank records settle readiness. Petition approval is not entry or residence; visa availability and the later conditional-residence period follow.
For a post-RIA petition, the capital generally must be expected to remain invested for at least two years from the date the full amount of the qualifying investment is made, and job-creation evidence must be preserved for the condition-removal filing.