Direct EB-5 : Investing in a U.S. Business

What Is Direct EB-5?

Direct EB-5 is a form of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program in which an investor makes a qualifying investment in a U.S. commercial enterprise without investing through a Regional Center.

The investment must satisfy EB-5 requirements, including the applicable minimum investment amount and the creation of at least 10 qualifying full-time jobs for U.S. workers.

For investors considering Direct EB-5, the business is therefore central to the immigration strategy. Its structure, operations, hiring plan and use of investment capital all matter.

USCIS distinguishes these investors from Regional Center investors through Form I-526, which identifies as the petition for a standalone investor.

What Does Direct EB-5 Require?

A Direct EB-5 investment must meet several core requirements.

Explore this topic: Direct EB-5 requirements →

Does a Direct EB-5 Investor Have to Run the Business?

A common misconception about Direct EB-5 is that the investor must personally operate the business every day.

Direct EB-5 does involve requirements concerning the investor's participation in the enterprise, but that should not automatically be interpreted to mean that the investor must personally perform the day-to-day work of running the company.

The investor's role depends on the structure of the enterprise and the rights and responsibilities associated with that structure.

This distinction becomes particularly important when evaluating businesses that require professional management, specialized operators or licensed professionals.

Ownership, Investor Role and Daily Operations

Ownership, investor participation and daily business operations are related, but they are not the same thing.

A business can have investors with defined ownership and participation rights while relying on experienced management to handle daily operations.

That distinction is very important in industries where operating the business requires specialized experience.

Healthcare is a good example.

A healthcare business may involve investors, business management, medical professionals, administrative staff and other employees with very different responsibilities.

How Does Direct EB-5 Job Creation Work?

Job creation is one of the central requirements of the EB-5 program.

Each investor must be associated with at least 10 qualifying full-time positions for U.S. workers.

In Direct EB-5, those jobs must generally exist within the qualifying business structure rather than being calculated through the indirect-job methodologies used in the Regional Center program.

Job creation should also be considered in connection with the underlying business:

1. How many employees will the business require?
2. When will those employees be hired?
3. Which entity will employ them?
4. Does the operating plan support the required staffing?
5. Is the hiring plan consistent with how the business will actually operate?

That connection between the operating business and its employment needs is crucial in Direct EB-5 planning.

Explore this topic: Direct EB-5 job creation →

Why Urgent Care?

Urgent care clinics occupy a specific position within the U.S. healthcare system.

They provide access to care for medical needs that require timely attention but may not require treatment in a hospital emergency department.

Research has also examined urgent care as an alternative setting for certain lower-acuity conditions that can appropriately be treated outside an emergency department.

That does not mean urgent care replaces emergency care. The appropriate setting depends on the patient's medical needs.

Convenient Access to Care

Urgent care centers are designed around access to same-day care.

Patients commonly use them when their primary care provider is unavailable, when they need treatment outside traditional office hours or when a medical issue requires timely attention but is not an emergency.

This role has helped urgent care become an established part of the broader U.S. healthcare delivery system.

Location Matters

A large national market does not mean every location will have the same demand.

Individual clinic performance can depend on local demographics, competition, visibility, payer mix, operating hours, staffing, nearby healthcare providers and other market conditions.

Location analysis therefore remains an important part of evaluating an urgent care business.

Urgent Care Creates Operating Jobs

An operating urgent care clinic requires people.

Depending on the clinic structure, staffing may include medical professionals, clinical support staff, administrative employees, front-desk personnel and operational roles.

For Direct EB-5 purposes, however, the relevant question is not simply whether an industry employs people.

The specific business must have a staffing plan capable of supporting the qualifying job-creation requirements associated with its EB-5 structure.

Urgent care's established role in U.S. healthcare is one reason TADE selected the sector for its current opportunity. It does not mean that healthcare eliminates business or investment risk, or that any individual clinic is guaranteed to succeed.

We explore how healthcare works with Direct EB-5 in our article: Direct EB-5 through healthcare businesses →

Direct EB-5 Frequently Asked Questions