Reconstruct the acquisition from what survives: the registered transfer, the corporation's earliest financial statements, tax returns and any bank or credit-union records. Explain the gaps candidly and support them with secondary evidence rather than leaving them unaddressed.
Reconstruct with records, then explain the rest
USCIS requires evidence that the capital was obtained through lawful means, and for older assets it accepts a reasonable reconstruction. Start with the land titles office, which will hold the historical transfer and any registered mortgage. The corporation's accountant may retain financial statements further back than the family does, and the Canada Revenue Agency can supply copies of older returns on request. A registered mortgage discharged years ago shows both the financing and its repayment from farm income. Where a document is genuinely unavailable, a sworn statement from the parent who made the purchase, describing the price, the financing and the source of the down payment, should be paired with whatever corroborates it. What reviewers object to is an unexplained gap, not an honestly documented old transaction. Organize the file chronologically so the land's history reads as one story.
Hypothetical example: a Canadian investor funds an independent ice-manufacturing company with proceeds from a decades-old family business sale. The first review builds a chronology from the original ownership records, sale agreement, tax reporting and bank statements through each transfer into the EB-5 account. Where a historic document is missing, seek records from the lawyer, accountant, registry or tax authority and pair an honest explanation with corroboration. The point is not to create a perfect archive; it is to remove unexplained links. The final index should let a reviewer trace the source and path of capital without guessing which account paid which obligation.