United States

As of 2026 the investment is still USD 800,000 in a targeted employment area or USD 1,050,000 standard. That figure has not moved since the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act took effect in March 2022, and it has not yet been adjusted for inflation. Two dates matter here. The RIA's five-year inflation mechanism produces its first adjustment on 1 January 2027. Industry guesses put the TEA figure near USD 900,000, but no official number exists yet. The other date is 30 September 2026, the last day an I-526E filing earns statutory grandfathering. File on or before that date and you lock in today's price and today's rules. You also gain protection if Congress lets the Regional Center Program lapse when its authorisation expires on 30 September 2027.

The immigration bar has been nearly unanimous in advising wealthy clients to hold off, and the data backs that caution up. The Gold Card was created by Executive Order 14351 on 19 September 2025, not by Congress. It routes applicants into the existing EB-1/EB-2 categories on the theory that a USD 1,000,000 gift counts as a substantial benefit to the US. Per DHS figures reported in spring 2026, roughly 338 requests were submitted, 165 people paid the USD 15,000 fee, and just one card had actually been granted. That fee is non-refundable and comes due before any adjudication. Multiple lawsuits are live, and the next administration, or a single adverse appellate ruling, could end the programme without any act of Congress.

Not today. The Platinum Card is not law and it is not operating. Only a wait list exists, and registering on that wait list confers no rights and no priority. Its advertised promise, up to 270 days a year in the US without US tax on non-US income, directly contradicts the substantial presence test in §7701(b). Under that test, anyone spending 270 days a year in the US is a tax resident on worldwide income. Commerce Secretary Lutnick has publicly conceded that the program needs congressional approval, because only Congress writes the Internal Revenue Code, and no bill has passed. Treat any adviser who presents a Platinum Card benefit or timeline as settled fact as someone selling, not advising.

Yes. The United States is the only major economy that taxes based on citizenship and permanent residence rather than where you actually live. A green card, however you obtain it, including through EB-5 or the Gold Card, makes you a US taxpayer on your worldwide income. FBAR and FATCA reporting come on top of that. The foreign earned income exclusion is only USD 132,900 for 2026, which barely dents a UHNW income. Here is the real US story. Buying a Gold Card means buying into citizenship-based taxation, not a way around it. At this level, any US immigration decision is a tax decision first.

Yes, under the §877A expatriation regime. For long-term green card holders, it is a trap that catches people who never think of themselves as expatriating. You are a covered expatriate if your net worth is at least USD 2,000,000 on the expatriation date. That threshold has gone unindexed since 2008, so essentially every UHNW family meets it. It triggers a mark-to-market deemed sale of worldwide assets, with only a USD 910,000 exclusion for 2026. Crucially, holding a green card in any part of 8 of the last 15 years makes filing Form I-407 a full §877A event. A family that spends 8 of 15 years on a green card ends up taxed as if renouncing a citizenship they never held. If you have held a green card in 7 or more tax years, run the exit-tax screen before filing I-407.

No. That pitch has been legally dead since 27 December 2022, when PL 117-263, the AMIGOS Act provision in the FY2023 NDAA, closed it. Anyone who acquires treaty-country nationality by investment on or after that date must now show three continuous years of genuine domicile in Grenada or Turkiye before qualifying for E-2. That means actually living there, not just holding the passport. Citizenships acquired by investment before 27 December 2022, or nationality obtained by descent, birth or marriage, are not affected. Marketers still sell the old story of buying a passport and getting an E-2 the next quarter, so verify the acquisition date before anyone wires a contribution.

As of the July 2026 Visa Bulletin, often yes. That is the whole reason the EB-5 rural set-aside is priced the way it is. India's EB-1 retrogressed again, EB-2 India went unavailable, and EB-2 NIW is effectively closed for Indian-born applicants regardless of merit. Meanwhile all reserved EB-5 set-asides remained Current for every country including India and China, and the rural route (USD 800,000) carries a 20% visa pool plus statutory priority processing, with reported I-526E averages around 8–10 months. The catch is that with an estimated 15,000+ investors already in the rural pipeline, rural is expected to retrogress first, probably within months rather than years. So the timing advantage is not permanent.

Badly, if the assets are held directly. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (PL 119-21, 4 July 2025) permanently raised the estate, gift and GST exemption to USD 15,000,000 per person from 2026. But it left the non-domiciled foreigner's exemption fixed at just USD 60,000 against US-situs assets. That is a 250:1 gap, and it is the most expensive number in US inbound planning. US real estate always has US situs, and US-company shares have US situs even if held in a foreign brokerage account. So a foreign family holding a Manhattan apartment and a US brokerage account directly faces 40% on essentially the whole value at death. There is also no unlimited marital deduction for a non-citizen surviving spouse without a QDOT, a point that surprises mixed-nationality couples constantly.

For a family that already owns a genuine operating business abroad, it usually is. L-1A maps almost directly onto EB-1C. It requires no labour certification and no USD 800k+ passive investment, and it reuses the same evidence base. But there are real catches. A New Office L-1A is granted for only one year initially. At extension, you must prove that the US entity actually grew enough to support a genuine managerial role. Small-company cases, where the applicant is still doing the work rather than managing staff or an essential function, are the top ground for denial. EB-1C approval rates run only around 78–82%, with RFE rates above 40% on weak documentation. The foreign entity must also keep operating throughout. Winding it down after the move breaks both the L-1 and the EB-1C.