BLOG
August 6, 2026
GWP IMMIGRATION LAW
Your EB-5 Green Card Has a Two-Year Clock. Form I-829 Stops It.
The petition that converts a conditional EB-5 green card into permanent, unrestricted residency for an investor and family.
USCIS can now re-examine an investor’s source of funds at this exact stage, even after I-526 approval, and a pending rule could add new audit authority before some cases are decided.
Updated August 6, 2026 · GWP Law · Las Vegas, NVTHE CONTEXT
The Final Checkpoint in an EB-5 Case
Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, is what an EB-5 investor files with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to end conditional residency.
Approval converts a two-year conditional green card into a permanent, ten-year card for the investor, their spouse, and any unmarried children under 21 who immigrated with them, under the framework set out at 8 U.S.C. § 1186b.
The petition must be filed within the 90-day period immediately before the second anniversary of the date conditional residence was granted, which appears as the “Resident Since” date on the Permanent Resident Card, per the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 7.
Missing that window without a good-cause explanation can terminate conditional status automatically and place the investor in removal proceedings.
Two things must be proven at this stage: that the invested capital remained at risk in the new commercial enterprise, and that the investment created, or will soon create, at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers under 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5).
For investors who filed on or after March 15, 2022, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) fixed the sustainment period at a minimum of two years from the date capital became available to the job-creating entity, replacing the older and less defined “at risk” standard set out in Matter of Izummi, 22 I&N Dec. 169 (AAO 1998).
If the ten jobs are not yet created when the petition is filed, USCIS generally treats one year past the second anniversary of conditional residence as a reasonable time to reach that number, provided the investor submits a credible hiring or construction timeline.
The RIA also gave USCIS authority to re-examine an investor’s source of funds at the I-829 stage, even where that same capital was already approved in the underlying I-526 or I-526E, a change described in USCIS’s policy update memo on the RIA.
Most regional center investments flow through a two-tier structure: the investor’s capital goes into a new commercial enterprise (NCE), which typically lends it to a job-creating entity (JCE) that develops the project generating the jobs.
At the I-829 stage, USCIS traces that capital from investor to NCE to JCE, so the loan agreement between the two entities and the JCE’s own audited financials carry as much weight as the investor’s original subscription documents.
Regional center investors who file Form I-526E on or before September 30, 2026 keep their case governed by the rules in effect at filing, including for the later I-829, regardless of whether Congress reauthorizes the Regional Center Program in 2027.
DHS has also proposed a new rule, published in the Federal Register on July 2, 2026, that would add formal audit and automatic-revocation authority under the RIA; the comment period runs through August 31, 2026, and none of it is final yet.
Source: USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 7.
A REAL CASE
A Regional Center Project That Fell Behind Schedule
A client invested through a regional center project that broke ground later than the offering documents had projected.
By the time his two-year conditional period ended, the job-creation report showed only six of the ten required positions, all tied to indirect and induced employment estimates from the project’s economist.
I filed his I-829 inside the 90-day window together with a construction timeline, updated occupancy projections, and a letter explaining why the remaining jobs would materialize within the following year.
USCIS approved the petition without issuing a Request for Evidence, applying the same “reasonable time” standard set out in its own policy guidance.
Before the 90-Day Window Opens
THE PATH FORWARD
If USCIS Denies the Petition
A denial ends conditional residence and generally places the investor in removal proceedings.
Immigration judges review I-829 denials de novo, meaning the investor may submit new evidence that was never part of the original USCIS record.
An investor may instead ask USCIS to reconsider, or appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office, by filing Form I-290B.
Given the RIA’s expanded fraud and source-of-funds review, a denial at this stage is best handled by counsel already familiar with the investor’s full capital history, not by reconstructing that history after the fact.
References
- USCIS, Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status
- 8 U.S.C. § 1186b, Conditional Permanent Resident Status for Certain Alien Entrepreneurs
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part G, Chapter 7 — Removal of Conditions
- 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5), Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5)
- Matter of Izummi, 22 I&N Dec. 169 (AAO 1998)
- USCIS, Policy Manual Update: EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022
- Federal Register, EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022; Ensuring the Integrity of the EB-5 Program (July 2, 2026)
- USCIS, Form G-1055, Fee Schedule
- USCIS, Suggested Order of Form I-829 Documentation
- USCIS, Form I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion
Filing an I-829 in the RIA Era Is Not a Formality
Our attorneys build the evidentiary file before the 90-day window opens, not after USCIS asks for it.
Book a Consultation →This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney before taking any action. · Last verified: August 6, 2026 · Reviewed by: Kathia Quirós, Immigration Attorney · GWP Immigration Law
