The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program has traditionally focused on commercial real estate developments and hotels. However, foreign investors are increasingly turning their attention to a new sector: advanced U.S. manufacturing projects that are eligible for EB-5 investment.
As the U.S. government actively promotes manufacturing reshoring, the domestic industry is growing. This expansion is creating new project opportunities that may qualify for EB-5 capital.
Projects such as electric vehicle (EV) plants, microchip manufacturing facilities, biotechnology hubs, and medical device factories are now becoming eligible investments for EB-5 investors through their construction and subsequent operation.
Manufacturing projects are eligible and heavily favored under the EB-5 rules according to EB-5 immigration attorney Jimena G. Cabrera of Cabrera Law. “Manufacturing projects can be beneficial as EB-5 investments,” she said.
Immigration attorney Kyle Mitchell of Lihanjun Law notes that these projects offer distinct advantages over traditional EB-5 projects. “Manufacturing may not be the future of EB-5, but it is a meaningful category that appeals to certain investors evaluating their options under the current program structure,” he said.
How manufacturing qualifies as EB-5 investments?
The EB-5 visa program requires a foreign national to invest a minimum amount of capital ($800,000 in specialized areas or $1,050,000 in standard areas) into a New Commercial Enterprise (NCE) in compliance with the 2022 EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA). In return for this capital risk, the investment must create at least 10 permanent, full-time U.S. jobs per investor.
How does a manufacturing project qualify? The key lies in the facility’s construction and subsequent operation.
“The 2022 [RIA] has created a highly favorable environment for manufacturing projects,” Cabrera said. “While the RIA does not specifically target manufacturing, the sector benefits indirectly because manufacturing facilities may be in rural areas (since they usually require larger sites) that qualify for the rural set-aside category,” Cabrera said.
EB-5 rural projects are eligible for priority processing by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), a provision established by RIA to encourage investment in regions with high unemployment rates. Manufacturing developments that leverage these benefits enable investors to access this expedited processing.
Manufacturing projects in rural areas also help EB-5 investors avoid some of the challenges often faced with traditional projects. Unlike real estate, which may struggle to demonstrate demand in rural areas with small populations, manufacturing projects can create demand from customers beyond the local community.
“Rural areas by design have populations under 20,000, which can make it difficult to demonstrate end-user demand for projects that depend on tourism or residential sales,” Mitchell noted. “Manufacturing projects in rural areas address this tension because their job creation and revenue do not depend on local population. A manufacturing project draws its demand from customers beyond the immediate locality, while still qualifying for the rural designation and the priority processing benefits.”
How manufacturing can be advantageous for job requirements in rural areas
These industrial projects also meet the minimum job requirements, as they can be massive, capital-intensive operations that require hundreds of millions of dollars to build and thousands of workers to run.
“Manufacturing facilities often require significant construction activity followed by long-term operational employment, providing a strong and reliable job-creation model through construction employment, permanent operational jobs, and supply-chain and indirect economic impacts,” Cabrera said.
This type of industrial EB-5 project also offers a distinct advantage by shifting job creation from construction to ongoing operations, aligning well with rural, high-demand, priority-processed investment strategies.
“Manufacturing projects still produce construction jobs, but a larger share of qualifying jobs comes from the operating phase, including line workers, technicians, quality control, and maintenance personnel. This changes the analytical framework for evaluating evidence of job creation in I-956F and I-829 adjudications,” Mitchell said.
In addition, many of these projects also benefit from federal incentives, such as the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Defense Production Act Title III industrial base funding, and Department of Energy loan programs, which improve project economics and reduce risk for investors.
EB-5 investors investing in manufacturing projects supported by federal incentive programs are investing in initiatives that align directly with stated US policy priorities, whether reshoring semiconductors, building out clean energy capacity, or strengthening the defense industrial base,” Mitchell said. “These do not change the EB-5 process or guarantee I-829 approval, but they can help reduce the project failure risk by strengthening the underlying business.”
The U.S. government is currently promoting manufacturing reshoring by making direct investments, implementing commercial tariffs, and offering federal tax incentives. As a result, manufacturing is growing in the country, creating potential project opportunities that could qualify as EB-5 investments.
“While there are relatively few EB-5 manufacturing projects compared to real estate, major manufacturing reshoring is happening in TEA-qualifying areas, creating a structural alignment with EB-5,” Mitchell said.
Due diligence is a must even if manufacturing shines
However, as with every EB-5 investment, immigration attorneys caution investors against choosing a manufacturing project based on its category alone.
“The success of a manufacturing project ultimately depends on its individual economics, capital structure, management team, market demand, and overall job-creation methodology. Cabrera said. “While manufacturing projects may offer significant advantages, they should be evaluated on their own merits rather than solely on their rural designation.”
Mitchell also cautions EB-5 investors and their legal counsel to consider the challenges associated with manufacturing versus traditional EB-5 analysis, including job creation, the risk of material changes to the project’s original design, and timing risk relative to the conditional residency window.
Regarding job creation, these projects may face risks due to reliance on ongoing operational employment rather than construction jobs alone, which may not meet projections. They are also vulnerable to material changes in product lines or operations that could affect initial project approvals. Additionally, unpredictable timelines can complicate the alignment of job-creation milestones with investors’ conditional residency periods, potentially hindering their ability to provide the necessary evidence for I-829 petitions.
“As with any EB-5 project due diligence, it’s important to try to see the whole picture,” Mitchell said. “It’s best for investors not to take the permitting process for granted and to ask for approval history, expected timelines, and contingencies should there be a delay.”
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