EB-5 Grandfathering Deadline Has Passed: What the 2026 Filing Guide Covered

Update, November 7, 2026: The September 30, 2026 grandfathering deadline has passed. Petitions filed on or before that date are protected under the RIA grandfathering rule in INA 203(b)(5) if the Regional Center Program lapses; that is the only thing the deadline governed. The investment minimums adjust on a separate date, January 1, 2027, and USCIS has not announced the new amounts. Regional center authorization runs through September 30, 2027. The month by month timeline below was published in April 2026 and is kept for reference.

When this guide was published, September 30, 2026 was six months away. A petition filed on or before that date is grandfathered against a program lapse. The investment amount is a separate question: petitions filed before January 1, 2027 are filed at $800,000 (TEA), and the CPI-U adjustment applies to petitions filed on or after that date.

This was written as a filing guide. It works backwards from the deadline: what needed to happen each month, what "properly filed" means, and where most people lose time.

The short version#

A "properly filed" I-526E received by September 30, 2026 is grandfathered against a Regional Center Program lapse. That window has closed. The minimum investment adjusts separately on January 1, 2027; no new amount has been announced. If you are in the U.S. and eligible, filing I-526E and I-485 at the same time remains worth considering.

What the September 30, 2026 deadline actually is#

The Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) authorized the Regional Center program for five years, through September 30, 2027. The grandfathering provision, added to INA 203(b)(5), says that if your petition was filed on or before September 30, 2026, USCIS may not deny it or stop processing it because the Regional Center Program lapses.

In practice, grandfathering means one thing: if the program lapses (as it did in 2021), your petition survives. The investment amount you must meet is set by your filing date relative to the January 1, 2027 adjustment, not by grandfathering.

What grandfathering does not do: it does not guarantee approval. Your petition still has to meet every substantive requirement. It does not speed up processing. And it does not protect you from a fraud or misrepresentation finding.

Source: EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, Pub. L. 117-103, Division BB.

What "properly filed" means#

USCIS will accept your petition as "properly filed" if you submit the correct form (I-526E), include the correct filing fee ($3,675 as of this writing), send it to the right lockbox, sign it, and include enough initial evidence for them to open a case.

Get any of those wrong and the petition is rejected. A rejection is not the same as a denial. It means the petition was never accepted, so the grandfathering clock never started.

On the other hand, a petition that is accepted but later gets a Request for Evidence (RFE) is still considered properly filed as of the original receipt date. That is the distinction worth remembering: you do not need an approved petition to be grandfathered. You need an accepted one.

The filing timeline, working backwards#

This timeline described the steps for filing before the deadline and is kept as a record. The same steps, in the same order, still apply to any EB-5 filing.

September 2026: File the I-526E#

USCIS must receive the petition on or before September 30. If you are mailing a physical petition, that means sending it by September 22 at the latest. Your attorney should have the complete package finalized by September 15.

August 2026: Finalize documentation#

Your attorney needs everything in hand: source of funds evidence, the investment agreement, project documents, I-956F approval (or proof it has been filed), and your personal eligibility records. Source of funds is the piece that causes the most delays. If it is not done by August, you are running out of room.

July 2026: Wire the investment#

Complete the investment and execute the subscription agreement. Some projects need 30 to 60 days between subscription and I-526E filing to prepare the project-specific evidence packet. Have your capital liquid and ready to wire by July 1.

June 2026: Select a project and finish due diligence#

This is the latest realistic start date for project selection. Proper due diligence on an EB-5 project takes 4 to 8 weeks. You need to verify the regional center's compliance history, whether the I-956F has been approved or filed, the job creation methodology, and the TEA designation.

May 2026: Retain an attorney#

This was the month to retain an EB-5 immigration attorney if you did not have one. Your attorney needs time to review your financial profile, help you choose a category (rural, urban, infrastructure, or unreserved), and determine whether concurrent filing works for your situation.

April 2026: Start on source of funds#

This is the step most people underestimate. Gathering bank statements, tax returns, business records, property valuations, and other evidence of lawful origin takes 8 to 12 weeks for most investors. Source of funds is a common cause of RFEs and delays. It is still the best place to start for any filing.

What missing the deadline costs#

Missing the grandfathering deadline costs lapse protection, not money. The investment minimum is a separate date:

The statute fixes the adjustment mechanism, not the amount. Any figure in circulation before USCIS publishes the adjusted amounts is a projection.

USCIS filing fees are also changing. Under the EB-5 fee final rule (91 FR 61940), filings postmarked on or after November 30, 2026 pay $7,850 for the I-526E and $5,000 for the I-829.

Source: INA Section 203(b)(5)(C)(iii); BLS CPI-U Series CUUR0000SA0.

Concurrent filing: worth considering if you qualify#

If your priority date is current (it is for all reserved categories right now), you may be able to file I-526E and I-485 (Adjustment of Status) at the same time. That lets you apply for work authorization (EAD) and travel authorization (Advance Parole) while your petition is pending.

You have to be physically present in the U.S. and eligible to adjust status. Not everyone qualifies. Ask your attorney.

What to watch next#

Four things to watch now that the grandfathering deadline has passed:

Visa bulletin movement. If reserved categories retrogress, concurrent filing eligibility narrows. Check the bulletin monthly.

USCIS fee changes. The EB-5 fee final rule raises the I-526E fee to $7,850 for filings postmarked on or after November 30, 2026.

Processing time shifts. These do not affect the filing deadline itself, but they affect how long you wait for a decision. We track I-526E processing times on the processing times page.

Legislative activity. Congress could extend or modify the program before the September 30, 2027 sunset. Our policy tracker covers developments as they happen.

Frequently asked questions#

My I-526E is filed before September 30, 2026 but not decided until after. Am I grandfathered?#

Yes. Grandfathering is based on the filing date, not when USCIS makes a decision. If the petition was properly filed on or before the deadline, a later program lapse is not a ground to deny it.

Can I file without an approved I-956F project?#

Yes. You can file an I-526E while the associated I-956F is still pending. USCIS will not approve your I-526E until the I-956F is decided, though. If the I-956F is denied, the I-526E is likely to be denied as well. Moving to a different project generally requires a new petition.

What if my source of funds documents are not ready in time?#

This question applied before the deadline passed. A petition filed now carries no grandfathering protection whether or not it is complete, so there is no reason to file an incomplete source of funds record.

Does this deadline apply to direct EB-5 investments?#

The grandfathering provisions are written for Regional Center investors. Direct EB-5 is authorized under permanent law and does not need reauthorization. But the CPI-U investment increase applies to both regional center and direct investments.

What if the program lapses again?#

In the 2021 lapse (June 2021 to March 2022), USCIS stopped approving regional center petitions. After the RIA passed, petitions filed before the lapse were processed again, but only after litigation in 2022. Petitions filed on or before September 30, 2026 now have statutory protection, so a future lapse should not be a ground to deny them. Petitions filed later have no such protection.

Where to start#

The grandfathering deadline has passed. When this guide was published in April 2026, a reader had roughly 20 weeks of usable preparation time. The timeline above accounts for about 16 to 20 weeks of work when source of funds documentation is the bottleneck (it usually is).

If you have not filed, the dates still ahead are January 1, 2027 (investment adjustment) and September 30, 2027 (regional center sunset).

If you have not started source of funds documentation, that is the first thing to do. Everything else depends on it.