IN THIS GUIDE · Corporate dividends as EB-5 capital and W-2 employees as the ten jobs in a direct cross-dock investment
Start with the EB-5 eligibility and application overview
Tracing a dividend from retained earnings to escrow
EB-5 capital must come from a lawful source and follow a documented path into the new commercial enterprise. A dividend is a lawful source when the corporation's retained earnings themselves are explained: audited or reviewed financial statements for several years, corporate tax filings, the directors' resolution declaring the dividend, the payment into the owner's personal account and the transfer onward to the enterprise or its escrow agent. The sale of the tractor units needs the bills of sale, proof the company owned them and the deposit records. Gaps in that chain, such as a dividend paid from a subsidiary the owner has not disclosed, are where petitions stall.
Ten full-time jobs means employees, not contractors
A direct EB-5 investment must create at least ten full-time positions for qualifying U.S. workers, meaning citizens, permanent residents and other authorized immigrants, employed by the new commercial enterprise itself for at least thirty-five hours per week. Owner-operator drivers who haul under contract with the warehouse are independent contractors and do not count. Neither do the investor, his spouse or their children. The warehouse's own dock staff, forklift operators, a dispatcher, a manager and administrative employees on the U.S. company's payroll do count, and the business plan should show them being hired within the period the regulations allow after admission as a conditional resident.
Engaged in management, from another country
The investor must be engaged in the new commercial enterprise through day-to-day management or through policy formulation. Serving as a director and majority shareholder who approves budgets, hires the general manager, sets pricing policy and signs major contracts satisfies the policy-formulation route even if he is physically in Ontario for much of the year. The petition should document that authority in the company's operating agreement and board minutes. What the investor should not expect is to keep his Canadian residence indefinitely after conditional permanent residence is granted; permanent residence carries its own residence expectations, and a plan to commute is a separate conversation.
Capital amount, conditional residence and family
Under the 2022 reform legislation the standard minimum is US$1,050,000, reduced to US$800,000 for a project in a targeted employment area or an infrastructure project; a cross-dock in a rural or high-unemployment area may qualify for the lower figure, but designation must be verified for the specific site. Approval leads to two years of conditional permanent residence for the investor, his spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one, followed by a petition to remove conditions on Form I-829 showing the investment was sustained and the jobs were created. Children close to twenty-one should have their age protection under the Child Status Protection Act checked before filing.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.