The investment amount rises on January 1, 2027, but January 1 is not really the deadline. The deadline is whenever a petition is ready to file, and getting ready takes longer than most investors expect. That gap is the difference between filing at the current amount and missing it.
The real deadline is earlier than you think
On a recent CanAm webinar, Peter Calabrese made the point directly. Investors tend to treat January 1 as the target, which can turn into ‘I’ll start looking on December 15.’ By then, the holidays are in the way and the time needed to assemble a strong petition has run out.
A well-prepared I-526E petition is not a last-minute document. Both the planning and the execution take time, and trying to execute without a plan in place invites problems.
Start with your immigration attorney
Christian Triantaphyllis laid out a clear order of operations, and it starts with counsel.
The first move is to engage an immigration attorney. That conversation legitimizes every discussion that follows, including the one with the regional center. When an investor approaches a project team, one of the first questions is whether source-of-funds work is already underway with an attorney. Having that in motion is what lets the regional center line up an appropriate project and timeline.
From there, the pieces come together: source-of-funds documentation, signed investment contracts, and investment confirmation documents, assembled and filed ahead of the deadline.
Expect a queue
Here is the part investors underestimate: they are not the only ones trying to file.
Christine Chen pointed to the September 30 deadline as the recent example. In the weeks before it, immigration attorneys were telling investors they could not take on new clients. The five-to-six-week preparation estimate assumes an investor is first in line, which is rarely the case. An attorney working through an existing queue needs considerably longer.
Christian reinforced the chain reaction: if an attorney cannot accept a case, the regional center cannot accept the funds, because the source of funds has not been vetted. Getting in line early is what keeps every later step on schedule.
Source of funds is the long pole
The larger investment amount is not just a bigger number. It can mean an additional source of funds to trace and document, and current USCIS adjudication scrutinizes that documentation closely. More sources mean more for USCIS to examine and question. Building the strongest possible source-of-funds report takes time, and it is the single biggest reason to begin now.
If the full amount cannot be funded at once
Some investors ask about filing when they cannot commit the entire amount immediately. A partial investment filing is a lawful option that some investors have used, but it is one to pursue only with an immigration attorney, and it comes with firm conditions. The committed portion is irrevocable. The petition must still document the full source of funds for the entire investment. And USCIS takes a hard line on meeting the subsequent-investment deadline stated in the petition. As Peter put it, these filings should be straightforward rather than creative. This is counsel’s territory, not a do-it-yourself path.
Simple steps to take this month
- Contact an immigration attorney and begin the source-of-funds conversation.
- Start project discussions with a regional center in parallel so timelines can be coordinated.
- Gather financial and source-of-funds documentation early, before year-end bottlenecks.
- Build in buffer. Assume the queue is longer than the baseline estimate.
Ready to Start?
For more than 20 years, CanAm Enterprises has focused on the EB-5 program, raising over $4.3 billion from more than 8,700 investors and returning over $2.5 billion in capital across more than 75 projects. As a FINRA-registered broker-dealer, CanAm works alongside investors and their attorneys to keep the process on track.
Contact CanAm at (212) 668-0690 or info@canamenterprises.com to begin preparing before the 2027 increase.
