You may know the investment amount and have a shortlist of EB-5 projects. The harder question is whether the evidence supports both your family’s immigration plans and the investment’s financial assumptions. Construction delays, funding gaps, unsupported job projections, or weak repayment terms can affect that decision.
EB-5 project due diligence means examining the investment behind the immigration plan: the developer’s record, committed funding, job-creation evidence, legal rights, execution risks, and repayment assumptions. In his video, Paresh Karia explains Acquest’s 75-point approach across 12 areas, supported by 16 mandatory cross-checks. This structured review tests whether documents agree, identifies missing evidence, and keeps immigration and capital risks visible. It helps investors ask informed questions before committing funds; it cannot guarantee Green Card approval, investment repayment, or the safety of invested capital.
Start with two questions about your family’s future
Your family’s US plans and your savings both deserve attention. Ask separately: can this project support the Green Card requirements, and how is your money expected to come back?
For the immigration plan, jobs matter. Each EB-5 investor must meet the requirement for at least 10 full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers, subject to applicable job-preservation rules for troubled businesses. Full-time generally means at least 35 working hours per week. Standalone investments generally rely on direct jobs; regional center investments may count direct and indirect jobs using permitted economic methodologies and subject to statutory limits. Your immigration lawyer should review the methodology, timing, and allocation of jobs to investors, rather than relying only on a project’s headline job total.
For your capital, ask what happens after construction and who provides the money for repayment. A strong answer to one question does not settle the other.
Paresh Karia, CEO of Acquest Advisors, is an ICAI-qualified Chartered Accountant and former senior banker at HDFC, ICICI Bank, and ABN Amro, with over two decades of experience across finance, real estate, and investment immigration. His background in real estate finance and corporate banking informs the document-based project assessment he explains in this video.
What the 75-point review adds
You need more than a folder of reports. You need to know whether they agree. In the video, Paresh describes 75 checkpoints across 12 areas, with 16 mandatory cross-checks between documents. The areas organise a review of the whole transaction, including immigration structure, job creation, funding, project execution, investor protections, and capital repayment, so that a strength in one area does not hide a weakness elsewhere.
The 16 cross-checks test consistency between documents. Examples include comparing the project budget with the spending assumptions in the job-creation report, reconciling funding agreements with the stated capital structure, and checking whether protections described in presentations appear in the legal documents. These examples illustrate the approach; ask for the full 12-area checklist and the findings from all 16 cross-checks for your shortlisted project.
Acquest records missing evidence and asks the project for answers. Paresh explains that each checkpoint needs a document or credible source, that executed agreements carry more weight than marketing presentations, and that fundamental weaknesses cannot be offset by stronger scores elsewhere. The review also considers your family’s timing, how long you can leave money invested, and where your funds come from. Use these six starting questions to discuss the full review.
Six checks to discuss before choosing a project
1. Who has delivered comparable projects?
If your family is relying on this team to finish construction, ask for evidence of completed developments and previous investor repayments. Review the developer and the regional center, the organisation sponsoring the EB-5 offering, separately.
Check names, dates and supporting records. A recognisable brand is a starting point for questions.
2. Is the full funding plan in place?
Before committing savings, understand who will pay to finish the project. Ask how much the developer has contributed, what bank funding is committed, and what depends on future fundraising.
Ask your advisor to distinguish signed funding agreements from expected funding. The family needs a clear picture of what is available today.
3. What supports the job numbers?
To judge how the project supports your Green Card application, ask which spending or business activity creates the projected jobs. Then ask what happens to those calculations if costs or construction timing change.
Review the job creation requirements with your immigration lawyer. Any extra projected jobs should have a documented basis.
4. What do the legal protections actually cover?
You should understand your position if the project needs more time or money. Ask whether assets support the loan, who has the first claim on them, and who can enforce your rights.
Have an independent lawyer explain the documents and their enforceability in everyday language. Collateral and contractual protections may help manage risk, but they do not prevent losses or guarantee recovery. For a family evaluating capital risk, the joint SEC and USCIS investor alert makes the limit clear: regional center designation is not government endorsement of an investment.
5. How will your capital be repaid?
If you need the money later for education or retirement, the repayment plan must fit that need. Will repayment come from a property sale, business income, or refinancing, meaning a new loan replacing the existing one?
Ask what supports that plan, who gets paid first, and what extension rights appear in the agreement. A target repayment date needs supporting evidence; it is not a guarantee. Repayment depends on project performance, available funds, contractual terms, and applicable EB-5 requirements, and may be delayed or may not occur.
6. Does this project fit your family?
For an H-1B professional or a family investing from India, start with your own timetable and available savings. Ask your lawyer to assess the project filing status and your individual eligibility separately.
For your family’s filing decision, Form I-956F, Application for Approval of an Investment in a Commercial Enterprise, is filed by the regional center for a particular investment offering. It must be filed before an investor submits the associated Form I-526E petition. Filing and approval are different stages. Approval addresses offering-related EB-5 requirements; your individual eligibility still requires adjudication. It does not guarantee a Green Card, investment repayment, or capital safety.
Bring your shortlist to the consultation. Our EB-5 project checklist for Indian investors offers further questions to discuss.
Planning EB-5 for your family?
Source of Funds, project selection, and timing all interact. An Acquest advisor can walk you through where you stand.
Choose with evidence and guidance
A useful EB-5 project due diligence checklist turns each concern into a document request. If you are asking how to evaluate an EB-5 project, assess immigration evidence and capital risk separately, then test whether the documents support the same assumptions.
Good EB-5 investment due diligence makes funding gaps, job-creation assumptions, legal limitations, and repayment dependencies visible. A checklist score alone should never replace professional judgement. Before committing capital, seek independent immigration and investment advice, resolve material unanswered questions, and consider whether the remaining risks fit your family’s circumstances. Due diligence supports an informed decision; it cannot guarantee Green Card approval, repayment, or protection from loss.
Legal and investment disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes only and is not legal, tax, or investment advice. Consult qualified independent immigration counsel and financial advisers about your circumstances. EB-5 investments involve risk, including possible loss of capital; immigration approval and repayment are not guaranteed.
About Acquest Advisors
Acquest Advisors is a trusted immigration consultancy. We work with HNI Indian families, business owners, and CXOs on residency and citizenship by investment across the US, Europe, and the UAE. Our advisory combines chartered accounting, corporate banking, and immigration expertise. That depth lets us handle Source of Funds planning, EB-5 project due diligence, documentation, and foreign remittance end to end.
Frequently asked questions
Does due diligence make an EB-5 project risk-free?
No. EB-5 project due diligence helps you understand the evidence, but USCIS requires capital to remain at risk, with a possibility of gain or loss.
Does USCIS project approval guarantee my Green Card?
No, your individual eligibility still needs review. Ask your immigration lawyer to explain what the project’s approval covers and what your own application must establish.
When should I request the 75-point review?
Start while you are comparing projects, before committing funds. Bring the offering documents and your family’s priorities so the discussion can address both.
To Learn more about EB-5
About Paresh Karia
Paresh Karia is the CEO of Acquest Advisors. Chartered Accountant by training and a former senior banker at HDFC, ICICI Bank, and ABN Amro, he brings over two decades of experience across global finance, real estate, and investment immigration. That dual lens, financial structuring on one side and immigration strategy on the other, is what lets Acquest evaluate Source of Funds files and EB-5 projects with a depth most pure immigration consultancies cannot match. Read more about Paresh.