How can my direct EB-5 visa investment amount be paid at the time of filing my petition?

It is possible to be in the process of investing when you file I-526 petition, as long as you can demonstrate by preponderance of the evidence that you have committed a certain amount or percentage of the lawfully sourced and traced personal EB-5 funds and are contractually committed to complete your EB-5 investment by a date X and the funds are readily available. It is very likely that you will receive a request for evidence from USCIS, which you will need to prevail on for a successful outcome on your I-526 petition if you are not fully invested at the time you file I-526 petition. Please keep in mind that if you are buying an existing business, there are other problematic issues to be addressed before you invest.

Need to be fully invested at the time of filing I-526 but you can perhaps negotiate a refund if the I-526 is denied for any reason.

The funds must be dedicated and transferred.

You can be "in the process of investing" at the time you file your I-526 petition. At a minimum, you will want to have invested a percentage of your total investment and be contractually committed to funding the remainder of your investment by a certain time frame. You can supplement the I-526 record with documentation confirming you have completed the required minimum investment amount during the I-526 processing or wait for USCIS to issue a request for evidence.

Very good question, and although we have always told our clients it is possible to file an I-526 before the entire amount is invested, up until recently it was considered a controversial position. The real answer that most people are not telling you is most sellers and projects (understandably) do not want to accept anything less than the full investment at time of filing because they are afraid of investors backing out or need the funds for their business. That is why even though this is approvable, not everybody will allow it (it is a business decision). Check with your business/investment opportunity and see whether they will allow it, and then we can certainly structure an approvable strategy that works for everybody.

Usually, an arrangement like that has all of the funds placed in escrow first, not sitting in the account of the investor pending approval.

The requirement is you must meet all eligibility criteria at the time of filing. It is dangerous to file with less than the statutory requirement irrevocably committed. You can sometimes invest with less if you can show the funds are identified and you are waiting for clearance to transfer the funds.

Direct EB-5s generally do not require a full investment upfront and installment payments can be OK. There are several considerations to be taken into account before deciding that a partial payment would meet the regulations.