Financial Planning for EB-5 Investors: What Help do Investors Need Beyond Finding a Project?

In the stress of looking for an investment project that will fulfill EB-5 immigration requirements, investors often overlook the financial realities of migration and the tax issues that can cost them big, which is why financial planning for EB-5 investors is crucial.

For foreign nationals looking to move to the United States, the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program has long been a reliable way to seek permanent residency. By making a qualifying investment in a job-creating project, it’s possible for investors to move their families to the U.S. while being free to pursue business and educational opportunities.

A key aspect of EB-5 is that the petitioner’s investment must be put at risk. With a very real chance of loss, it’s important to understand the finances of the EB-5 project, as part of a thorough EB-5 project evaluation, in addition to its likelihood of satisfying job creation requirements. Unfamiliarity with the way EB-5 projects are structured can lead some investors to overlook the financial realities that could cause them to lose some or all of their invested capital.

As a group of experts explained at a recent JTC webinar, there is more to moving to the U.S. than just selecting an EB-5 project, and failing to understand how location affects taxation, a critical part of EB-5 tax planning, can be incredibly costly.

The United States as a destination for global wealth

The webinar, Follow the Money: EB-5 Project Evaluation, Credit Market Signals, and Investor Protection, was held on September 9, 2026, and focused on the financial aspects of EB-5. The panel, featuring experts in EB-5, global finance, and asset preservation, talked through some of the decisions that come with a move to the U.S. and why so many wealthy people choose to do so.

“It’s no secret that global wealth moves,” said JTC Head of Specialty Administration and General Counsel – USA Jill Jones. “As politics change and tax situations change, there’s an ebb and flow of what countries people want to go to and ones they want to leave.”

Globally, more than 140,000 millionaires migrated in 2025. “To put that in perspective, that equates to about $40 billion in wealth that moved from one country to another,” said Jones. “The U.S. in particular is home to more than a third of the global population holding $30 million or more in assets, so it’s no secret that the U.S. would be one of these prime destinations.”

For high net worth individuals (HNWI), EB-5 is a proven way to achieve permanent residency. With minimum investment amounts set to increase in January 2027, many investors would like to get their petitions filed before that happens. But as Jones cautioned, it’s possible to move too quickly.

“There is an incentive to invest today before it costs you more for the same green card next year,” said Jones. “That said, that is not a good reason at all, ever, to rush an investment.”

The EB-5 investment needs to be put at risk for at least two years and be used to create at least 10 jobs. The investor also needs a Regional Center that can provide proper documentation of the entire process. And that’s only for immigration requirements; the goal should be to find a project that can also return the investor’s capital. To find the best projects from both an immigration and investment perspective takes time, and isn’t a process that should be shortcut.

“Don’t rush into a bad project with a bad Regional Center, and especially don’t rush in without making sure that you have all your ducks in a row.” said Joan Hull, Director of EB-5 Capital Development at Brevet Capital Management. “You will absolutely regret not doing all of the pre-planning. That is necessary.”

Why financial planning for EB-5 investors often gets overlooked

“There’s so much going on when someone’s coming to the U.S.,” said Mario Signori, General Counsel & Managing Director – SDTC (South Dakota Trust Company) for JTC. “The last thing they’re thinking about is trying to find tax counsel or thinking about their estate plan, and unfortunately, what often happens is, it gets forgotten.” Signori walked through some of the tax issues involved in EB-5 tax planning that most EB-5 investors likely haven’t thought about, but need to before they move.

“The U.S., as you may know, is a heavily-taxed regime, and there’s three typical taxes that have nothing to do with each other, and they don’t play nicely together,” said Signori. The most obvious of these is income tax, which comes into play because of the return from the EB-5 investment. “But there’s transfer tax rules, and those are the ones that come and haunt us at the end of the day. That’s the estate tax, which is often tied with the GSTT, the generation-skipping transfer tax, and also gift tax.”

At issue when dealing with these taxes is situs, which refers to the legal location of an asset. As Signori explained, these rules differ for different kinds of taxes, and foreign investors may not be prepared for the inconsistencies in how situs is applied.

“What would be deemed a U.S. situs asset is different from an estate tax perspective than a gift tax perspective, which is mind-boggling,” he said. “If I own Apple stock and I gift it to my son, and I’m a non-U.S. person, that’s a non-U.S. situs asset for gift tax. But if I die with that stock, I’m slapped with a huge estate tax bill from the U.S. government, even though I’m not a U.S. person.”

The complexity of these rules is a big reason why EB-5 investors shouldn’t try to go it alone. As Jones pointed out, waiting until one has already moved to the U.S. to figure these things out can be a big mistake.

“Planning ahead of time is critical because there are some times where once you’re here, it’s too late to undo it,” she said.

Avoiding unnecessary taxation by understanding trusts

Once an immigrant becomes a resident of the U.S., they become a United States person, and are subject to applicable taxes. Before then, they are considered a foreign person, and can allocate assets before they become taxable, a key window for EB-5 estate planning.

“Before I even become a U.S. person, I have powerful planning opportunities to effectively get money out of my name and into my children’s names or into my name in a trust that I, as a U.S. person, won’t be able to do anymore,” said Signori. “Technically, you can be a tax resident for income tax purposes on the U.S. end, but you don’t necessarily have to be one for the estate and gift.”

This might apply to certain individuals currently in the country on H-1B visas who are transitioning to EB-5. “They would be paying income taxes because their H-1B is the reason they’re here, to work,” said Jones. “They may not have moved their assets. Their assets could still be in their home country.”

For those individuals, Signori explained, trusts are an option, but the differences between the various types can be confusing.

“When they say it’s a foreign grantor trust, it’s deemed to be foreign for income tax purposes in the U.S., but it’s situs in South Dakota or Wyoming or Delaware,” he said. “But people are calling it a foreign trust. People get really confused by that. And you can have negative tax implications if that thing turns foreign non-grantor.”

Understanding the difference between a U.S. trust vs. a foreign trust and a grantor vs. a non-grantor trust can be tricky. EB-5 investors may already be trust beneficiaries in their home countries, and how those trusts will be treated under U.S. law can have consequences far down the road.

“You’re not necessarily only thinking about asset protection, but you’re thinking about long-term estate and immigration planning from a tax perspective,” said Signori.

How location affects taxation in EB-5

Different states have different tax laws and treat trusts differently. Similarly, EB-5 has set-aside visas for investments in rural areas. Should EB-5 hopefuls choose where to invest based on the tax laws of that state? Should the location of the EB-5 investment affect where they choose to live? There are incentives for making an EB-5 investment in a rural area, but as Jones explained, there are also risks.

“There are benefits to investing in certain areas, but maybe those benefits don’t outweigh the risk of having an investment in those areas,” said Jones.

“People who are going to move here and build a life, there are a lot more important things that they’re factoring in. If they have existing family here in the United States, if their child wants to go to school in a certain state, cost of living, all the other things,” added Hull. “It’s a very huge decision to come here, and bring your family here, and to build a life here. And you need to be really comfortable about where you decide to do that.”

Signori explained that while states like Wyoming, Delaware, and South Dakota are popular locations for trusts, that doesn’t mean the individual has to choose to move to one of those states.

“They’re not looking to move to South Dakota usually,” he said. “The key bit is that you have a trustee in the state that you want to unlock the laws of, and they’re administering the trust in that state.”

Having a corporate fiduciary administer the trust allows taxpayers to access the laws of a particular state without residing there, which is how South Dakota is the most popular trust destination in the U.S., and why JTC has SDTC to help clients set up trusts in the state.

“There are a lot of laws that you wouldn’t be able to unlock in these states that you can unlock in a state like South Dakota,” said Signori.

To learn more about SDTC and how JTC’s Private Client Services team helps clients access jurisdictional advantages, read about our South Dakota office.

Selecting a financially viable EB-5 project: what to look for

Not every EB-5 investor has to worry about setting up a trust or dealing with the estate tax exemption, but every EB-5 applicant has to select a project, and it’s important to understand the financial structure of the project if one hopes to have the initial investment returned one day.

Understanding the capital stack

“The capital stack is really one of the most important things that you should be looking at when you’re looking at a project, and what it’s essentially telling you is who is also invested alongside EB-5 and what the priority of those investors are in getting repaid,” explained Hull, who went through some of the basics of a typical EB-5 capital stack.

“The senior lender sits at the bottom,” she said. “They have the least risk, and they will be the first to be repaid. And then at the top is the common equity taking on the most risk. In between there is everyone else, and it’s very important that you understand where you’re coming in on the capital stack.”

While EB-5 investments often exist as mezzanine debt or preferred equity, it’s possible to find projects that place EB-5 capital in any position.

“There’s no right or wrong as long as you know what you are buying, and you understand when you are going into this investment what type of risk you’re taking, and again, when you will get repaid compared to all the other investors in that capital stack,” said Hull.

A key question posed at the webinar was what EB-5 investors should look for in an investment project. What do successful projects usually have in common?

Evaluating the Regional Center’s track record

“Number one, I think you have to look at the Regional Center that you’re working with,” said Hull. “You need to very clearly understand what their true track record is: not just how much money they have invested in EB-5, but how much of that money has been repaid, what types of projects they have experience in, and if that experience lines up with the type of project that you’re now investing with them on.”

Why the senior lender matters 

If the project has a senior lender, Hull said it is a good idea to find out who that senior lender is.

“It is somewhat comforting when there is a strong institutional senior lender in the capital stack because what that tells you is that a third-party institutional investor has done the work, has looked at the markets that this investment is going into. It has looked at the structure. They have done all of their homework, and they have made the decision to put their own capital at risk alongside yours,” she said. However, “it’s also important to understand that the senior lender is not taking on the same risk as you are.”

Hull also stressed that it’s important to understand what percentage of the capital stack is made up of EB-5 capital. “A good rule of thumb is EB-5 should be less than 50% of the capital stack,” she said.

Signori said that when it comes to EB-5, tax counsel, or any other aspect of asset management when moving to a new country, it’s important to find experienced individuals you can trust.

“That’s always been the name of the game,” he said. “People who you can rely on, who you can trust, who know what they’re talking about.”

At JTC, we know that selecting an EB-5 project is just one part of the broader financial planning for EB-5 investors process, and a major life decision for EB-5 applicants. To help EB-5 hopefuls understand the process and what they should be looking for, we’ve partnered with CanAm Enterprises to create EB-5 Investor Due Diligence: Finding the Right Project for Immigration Success, a full white paper that covers project structures, necessary elements of an EB-5 project, red flags to watch out for, and more. Share it with anyone considering EB-5 so they can be sure to ask the right questions as they pick a project and service providers to help them along the way.

Read our EB-5 project selection guide