A budget is a financial plan, not necessarily evidence of actual qualifying employment.
Separate forecasts from payroll facts
Identify what has occurred and what is projected, using the case’s applicable evidence method. The required capital, lawful funding and at-risk conditions remain separate from salary estimates. As checked September 7, 2026, capital generally is US$1,050,000, or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure case. Statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027; confirm the filing-date amount.
At filing, the investor pays the immigrant petition fee set in the USCIS fee schedule, which is substantially higher than most employment petitions, and a regional-center project ordinarily charges an administrative fee on top of the investment amount that is not returned. Produce a payment schedule separating qualifying invested capital, project administration, legal or advisory bills, government filing charges, currency costs, and personal reserves. The professional work is substantial: source-of-funds documentation for a family with decades of agricultural history is a long engagement, and the later stage requires evidence that the investment was sustained and the jobs created. The petition to remove conditions carries its own government charge, its own evidence assembly and often its own professional fee, and it falls due years after the initial enthusiasm, and any sponsor relationship, have cooled.