IN THIS GUIDE · Document an inheritance and count direct jobs before a nurse practitioner commits to a stand-alone EB-5 business
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
The EB-5 conditions
As checked on September 7, 2026, the required investment is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 in a targeted employment area or a qualifying infrastructure project, with statutory adjustments starting January 1, 2027. The capital must be lawfully sourced, placed at risk in a new commercial enterprise and sustained for at least two years. The enterprise must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers; in a direct investment those must be the enterprise's own employees. The investor must engage in management or policy formulation. Approval leads to two-year conditional permanent residence, with Form I-829 filed in the 90 days before the second anniversary to remove conditions. Spouse and unmarried children under 21 are derivatives.
Proving the source of an inheritance
An inheritance is a lawful source, but the file has to demonstrate it. The will or intestacy order, the grant of probate or letters of administration, the executor's accounting showing the distribution to the heir, and the bank records of the transfer are the core. Beyond that, adjudicators expect evidence that the deceased's estate was itself lawfully accumulated: property records, employment or business history, tax returns for recent years and statements for the accounts from which the estate was paid. The executor is the person who can supply most of this, and the request should be made before the estate is closed, because reconstructing a parent's finances afterward is far harder.
Ten direct jobs from a home-health agency
Outside a regional centre, only employees of the new commercial enterprise count, and each must be a qualifying U.S. worker in a full-time position of at least thirty-five hours a week, or a job-sharing arrangement that adds up to one. Contractors and per-visit workers paid as independents do not count. The business plan should therefore show the agency hiring nurses, aides, a scheduler and an administrator as W-2 employees, with a hiring schedule tied to client volume and reimbursement contracts, and reaching ten positions within the period the rules allow. Licensing and accreditation for a home-health agency in the chosen state are prerequisites the plan must address.
Her own role and status while it is pending
The investor must be engaged in the enterprise's management or policy formulation, which for a sole owner running an agency is easily met, but she cannot work in the United States on the strength of a pending petition. Until conditional residence, she remains in Canada; the agency will need a U.S. administrator to hold the licence and operate day to day. Canadian visitors may enter to attend to business matters but not to perform hands-on work. Plan the agency's launch with that constraint, and keep her nursing income in Saskatchewan until the immigrant visa issues.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.