EB5AN is pleased to announce the latest Green Card approval for our investors: an Indian national and his family, who invested in our Boynton Beach (Equity) urban EB-5 project. Remarkably, our investor and his wife received their Green Cards in less than 12 months.
Now, they can enjoy living and working freely in the United States as permanent residents, as well as travelling internationally with few restrictions. In two years, our investor will file Form I-829 to have the conditions on his Green Card removed.
“In 2025, we are seeing processing times for EB-5 applicants shorten significantly”, says Sam Silverman, managing partner of EB5AN. “EB5AN’s own investors are frequently receiving their I-526E approvals—and even their Green Cards—within 12 months.”
“This is truly a ‘golden” period for the EB-5 program,” continues Silverman. “For investors who want to get their Green Cards and become permanent residents as soon as possible, now is the time to invest.”
In this post, we explain the benefits of receiving an EB-5 Green Card and how you could be the next new permanent resident of the United States—now, in only months, not years.
Benefits of an EB-5 Green Card
Unlike temporary, non-immigrant visas such as E-2s and H-1Bs, the EB-5 program is a direct path to becoming a permanent resident of the United States. Other visa programs, such as EB-2, and EB-3, have wait times of up to 134 years for high-demand nationalities like India.
But EB-5 investors can receive their physical Green Cards in only months.
After investing, an EB-5 investor files Form I-526E with USCIS, proving that the funds were invested in a qualifying EB-5 project and sourced lawfully. Investors who already live in the U.S. under a non-immigrant visa can file Form I-485 along with the I-526E petition.
Form I-485 allows EB-5 applicants to adjust their immigration status to “pending” and apply for work and travel documents, which many investors receive in a few short weeks.
EB-5 investors often receive their I-526E and I-485 approvals within a short period of each other. With these approvals, they can now receive their physical U.S. Green Cards. An EB-5 investors’ dependents—spouse and unmarried children under 21—will also receive Green Cards.
Our investor in the Boynton Beach project already held a non-immigrant U.S visa. Through concurrent filing of the I-526-E and I-485 petitions, he had received an employment authorization document (EAD).
Now, the investor and his wife have their physical U.S. Green Cards. Subject to conditions, they are permanent residents of the United States.
Permanent residency frees EB-5 investors form the restrictions and uncertainty of H-1B and similar visas. They are no longer tied to employer sponsorship or to a particular business. Instead, they can study, work—or choose not to—and live anywhere in the United States.
In effect, you could enjoy becoming a permanent resident of the United States in only months after making your EB-5 investment.
Faster I-526E Processing in 2025
In May 2025, USCIS released a large dataset covering the I-526E filings and adjudications from April 2022 up to January 31, 2025. This period begins soon after the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (the RIA) was signed into law, ushering in new policies and significant benefits for EB-5 applicants.
The latest USCIS data reveal a historic surge in processing speeds for investors in rural EB-5 projects, While the vast majority of urban I-526Es remain unadjudicated, it is now the norm for rural EB-5 investors to receive I-526E approval in 8 to 10 months.
Consider a few highlights from the data showing increased processing speeds for I-526E applicants in rural EB-5 projects.
By January 31, 2025, USCIS had adjudicated 1,126 of the 4,329 rural I-526E filings—about 26%—while processing only 361 of the 5,191 urban filings (7%). Despite receiving roughly 20% more urban petitions, USCIS approved nearly three times as many rural cases, vividly illustrating the RIA’s mandate for rural priority processing.
Examining the period from February 1, 2023, through January 31, 2025, the disparity widens: 967 rural petitions were approved out of 4,095 (24%), compared to just 74 urban approvals from 4,521 submissions (1.5%). This 13:1 adjudication ratio underscores that urban petitions have largely stalled, with approvals coming at only a fraction of the rate seen for rural investments.
EB5AN’s internal data paints a similarly accelerating picture: at the end of January 2025, its investors represented 208 of the 1,126 rural approvals; by mid-May 2025, that figure jumped to 360—a more than 70% increase in just four months. Correspondingly, average rural processing times, which initially approached a year post-RIA, have contracted to eight–ten months, confirming that rural I-526E petitions are now the fastest path to an EB-5 Green Card.
While overall I-526E approvals remain well below annual visa limits, the growing gulf between receipts and adjudications signals that a backlog could materialize soon. Urban filings, in particular, face mounting risk: if receipts continue at current levels without a significant uptick in processing, USCIS may at some point impose cut-off dates on the urban category, forcing pending investors to wait even longer for visa availability.
Given these dynamics, prospective EB-5 investors should weigh category-specific timelines carefully. Rural projects benefit not only from priority processing but also from twice the annual set-aside visas compared to urban.
This being said, some investors in urban EB-5 projects, such as Boynton Beach, are nonetheless receiving timely I-526E approvals.
EB5AN’s Rural and Urban EB-5 Projects
“Our goal,” states Silverman, “is to help as many EB-5 investors as possible to enjoy this same experience: receive Green Cards in only months and enjoy the benefits of permanent residency as fast as possible—as well as receiving a timely return of their invested capital.”
While the Boynton Beach project is now closed for investment, EB5AN currently offers six EB-5 projects—Bay Creek, Tamarack Resort, Grand Park, Rocky River, Twin Lakes Georgia, and Terra Ceia Multifamily—spanning both rural and urban Targeted Employment Areas (TEAs) to meet diverse investor preferences. Rural projects like Bay Creek, Rocky River, and Grand Park qualify for the reduced $800,000 minimum investment and benefit from USCIS priority processing, while the Terra Ceia urban project features structured loan terms, experienced developers, and strong job-creation metrics to streamline investors’ paths to a U.S. Green Card.
Bay Creek is a master-planned residential community on Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. The project includes expanding infrastructure, selling 340 lots, and building 61 homes while enhancing amenities like championship golf courses (designed by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus), private beaches, a clubhouse, and a 350-acre nature preserve. The EB-5 investment is a secured senior loan backed by a first-position mortgage, with each investor’s tranche carrying a four-year term. It offers a construction-completion guaranty, an I-526E denial refund guaranty, and a job-creation guaranty ensuring all EB-5 funds are used for qualified costs. Bay Creek is projected to create 1,371 EB-5–eligible jobs and has sold nearly 300 land lots.
The EB-5 senior loan for Bay Creek’s investors creates an exceptional level of safety. With no other debt, the EB-5 funds will be first in line for repayment.
Grand Park is a master-planned community in Colorado’s Fraser Valley. It will feature more than 3,600 homes, over 700 lodging units, and 100,000 square feet of retail and office space. The EB-5 investment is structured as a secured four-year loan per investor, backed by a lien on 119.44 acres, a full equity pledge, and preferred units in project subsidiaries. Investors also receive a construction-completion guaranty, an I-526E refund guaranty, and a job-creation guaranty of at least 10 qualifying positions per investor. Grand Park has already created over 150 EB-5–eligible jobs and is projected to generate more than 1,518 by 2026 and nearly 9,442 overall.
With 260 home sales totaling $190 million since 2007—over 30% in the past two years—experience, Grand Park offers a very safe risk profile.
Tamarack Resort is a master-planned, all-seasons resort being developed by MMG Equity Partners, featuring world-class amenities such as ski slopes, lodging, and mixed-use facilities that drive robust job creation in a rural TEA setting. As a designated rural TEA project, investors qualify for a reduced $800,000 minimum investment and benefit from USCIS priority processing.
Rocky River is a 1,120-home active adult Cresswind community in Locust, North Carolina, developed by Kolter Homes, offering resort-style amenities such as a clubhouse, fitness center, and walking trails for residents aged 55 and over. As a rural EB-5 TEA project, Rocky River has demonstrated rapid investor success, with USCIS processing times under 10 months and continued construction progress for the EB-5 jobs.
Twin Lakes Georgia is a rural EB-5 TEA project developed by Kolter, featuring an active adult community with resort amenities and a proven track record of over 100 Form I-526E approvals processed in under nine months. In April 2025 alone, the project saw $7.4 million in development expenditures create 88 EB-5-eligible jobs, underscoring its strong job-creation profile and investor safety.
Terra Ceia Multifamily is a 276-unit, market-rate rental apartment community in Palmetto, Florida, developed as an urban EB-5 project to provide investors with stable income and Green Card eligibility. The project features a 14,000 sq ft clubhouse and benefits from a three-year loan term and TEA designation, ensuring competitive returns and priority USCIS processing.
For more information on getting started on EB-5 immigration, schedule a free consultation with EB5AN.
