Can I buy several small businesses to combine the required jobs for EB-5?

In the EB-5 program, the logic is not to add up jobs from unrelated businesses, but to show that the investment generates the required jobs through a single commercial enterprise or an integrated project.

That does not rule out, in principle, a structure that brings together different initiatives. The key point is that those acquisitions must be part of an integrated investment strategy capable of demonstrating that the combined venture, directly or indirectly, generates the jobs the program requires.

Purchasing several small, unconnected businesses simply to reach the job count, without that unity, typically does not meet the criteria. What matters is that the enterprise forms a single eligible whole, not merely a scattered tally of positions.

Because this is a complex structuring question, it is worth reviewing the project with specialized professionals and checking the current rules with USCIS before investing, to avoid arrangements that may not hold up under the applicable requirements.

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Victoria Harper

Editor-in-Chief

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As a journalist and lead editor at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps ensure that immigration topics are covered in a clear, trustworthy, and easy-to-understand way. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.