EB-5 in 2026: The 30 September Grandfathering Deadline — and Why It Changes Everything

For anyone weighing the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program as a route to a US green card, one date now dominates the calendar: 30 September 2026. It is the grandfathering deadline written into the 2022 reform law, and filing on or before it — versus one day after — changes the risk profile of an EB-5 investment materially. Here is what is happening, why September matters, and the two further changes that follow it.

The framework: the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) rebuilt the program after years of lapses. Its headline terms, still in force in 2026:

• Investment minimums: USD 1,050,000 for a standard project, or USD 800,000 for a project in a Targeted Employment Area (rural or high-unemployment) or infrastructure project;
• Reserved "set-aside" visas: 20% of annual EB-5 visas reserved for rural projects, 10% for high-unemployment areas, and 2% for infrastructure — categories that, for oversubscribed countries like India and China, have offered dramatically shorter waits than the unreserved category;
• Regional Center authorisation through 30 September 2027;
• Concurrent filing: investors already lawfully in the US can file the I-526E petition and the I-485 adjustment-of-status application together, obtaining a work and travel permit while they wait.

Why 30 September 2026 is the date that matters

The RIA contains a grandfathering provision. Investors who file Form I-526E on or before 30 September 2026 are protected: even if the Regional Center program is not reauthorised when its current authorisation ends on 30 September 2027, their petitions — and their subsequent I-829 to remove conditions — will continue to be processed. Their investment is insulated from the program's political cliff.

File after 30 September 2026, and you lose that protection. A new Regional Center investor filing in, say, October 2026 would be exposed to the full risk that Congress fails to reauthorise the program in 2027 — a risk EB-5 has repeatedly demonstrated is real, given its history of lapses and last-minute extensions. In practical terms:

• On or before 30 Sep 2026: grandfathered — protected against a 2027 lapse.
• After 30 Sep 2026: not grandfathered — subject to reauthorisation risk.

This single distinction is driving a wave of filings through mid-to-late 2026, and it is the reason advisers are urging Regional Center investors who are "going to do it anyway" not to drift past the deadline.

The two changes that follow

1. Investment minimums rise on 1 January 2027

The RIA requires the investment thresholds to be adjusted for inflation every five years, with the first adjustment due on 1 January 2027. Barring a change of policy, the USD 800,000 and USD 1,050,000 floors are expected to increase from that date. An investor who commits before the adjustment locks in today's lower minimum — a second, financial reason not to wait beyond 2026.

2. Set-aside visa dynamics shift at the fiscal-year boundary

The US immigration fiscal year ends on 30 September. At each 1 October rollover, EB-5 visa numbers reset, and the reserved set-aside categories behave differently as the program matures: unused reserved visas from one year carry over within the reserved pool before eventually spilling into the general category. The rural and high-unemployment set-asides — which have been the fast lane for Indian- and Chinese-born investors — are expected to see Visa Bulletin movement (and, for the most oversubscribed categories, the first final-action-date cut-offs) around these boundaries. Exact dates depend on the forthcoming monthly Visa Bulletins, but the direction of travel is clear: the extraordinary set-aside availability of the program's early years is normalising.

The practical takeaway

If EB-5 via a Regional Center is genuinely part of your plan, the calculus in 2026 is unusually clean: filing on or before 30 September 2026 secures grandfathering protection and locks in the current USD 800,000 minimum before the January 2027 inflation adjustment. None of this is a reason to rush an under-diligenced project — the RIA's "Integrity" provisions exist precisely because bad projects have cost investors dearly — but for a well-chosen project, the deadline turns a "someday" decision into a "this year" one. Direct (non-Regional-Center) EB-5 investors sit outside the Regional Center sunset, but face their own considerations around job creation and the same January 2027 minimums.

This is general information, not legal advice; EB-5 outcomes turn on individual facts and project quality — take qualified immigration counsel before filing.