Can I hire relatives as employees?

Hiring relatives in a company funded through EB-5 is not prohibited. What the program requires is that the jobs used to satisfy its job-creation requirement be genuine, and that standard applies regardless of whether the employee is a family member or not.

In practice, a hired relative must hold a real position in the company, work actual hours, and genuinely contribute to operations. What tends to be problematic is a purely nominal role created only to pad headcount and give the appearance of job creation, which can be seen as an attempt to circumvent the rules.

Agencies such as USCIS carefully evaluate whether the jobs created are real and whether they contribute to the economic development the program is meant to achieve. Hiring family members should not serve as a shortcut to simulate job creation.

Given this rigorous scrutiny, it is worth documenting each employment relationship thoroughly and verifying current requirements with USCIS, ideally with the support of a specialist, to keep everything in compliance.

About the author

Victoria Harper

Editor-in-Chief

Meet the author

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.