On January 1, 2027 the minimum rises by operation of statute — not by policy choice.
Every five years, beginning January 1, 2027, the EB-5 qualifying investment amount adjusts for inflation automatically. No rulemaking, no notice-and-comment, no discretion. For investors still deciding whether to file, and for those already waiting on an I-526E, the date changes the arithmetic of delay. This page explains what the statute requires, which amount governs a pending petition, and why an unadjudicated I-526E is a more expensive problem after 2027 than before it.
The EB-5 qualifying investment amount is set by 8 U.S.C. § 1153(b)(5)(C). Section 1153(b)(5)(A)(i) makes an investor eligible only where the alien has invested, or is actively in the process of investing, capital “in an amount not less than the amount specified in subparagraph (C).” Subparagraph (C) is therefore the operative provision, and the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 wrote an automatic escalator into it.
The adjustment clause requires that, beginning January 1, 2027 and every five years thereafter, the amounts adjust by the cumulative change in the unadjusted Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (all items, U.S. city average) as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, measured from January 1, 2022. The mechanics run in a fixed order:
Because the escalator is statutory and self-executing, there is no agency action to challenge, comment on, or wait for. This distinguishes it sharply from the 2019 increase, which came by regulation and was vacated in litigation. Nothing comparable is available here.
| Investment | Now (through 2026) | From Jan 1, 2027 (projected) |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (non-TEA) | $1,050,000 | ~$1.2 million |
| TEA / infrastructure | $800,000 | ~$900,000 |
The escalator depends on CPI-U data that will not be complete until late 2026, and the amounts are not official until USCIS publishes them. Independent analysts running the inflation math have landed in a range — roughly $900,000 to $937,500 for TEA, and roughly $1.2 to $1.25 million for the standard amount. Treat any specific figure quoted before publication, including the ones above, as an estimate. What is not an estimate is that an increase is coming and that it is mandatory.
The amount that governs a petition is the amount in effect when the petition is properly filed. A petition filed while the current thresholds are in force is evaluated against those thresholds, and a later statutory increase does not reach back and disqualify it mid-adjudication. That is the entire reason the date matters to investors making a decision this year.
It is also the reason the date matters to investors who already filed. Once capital is committed at the pre-2027 threshold, the investor is locked into a position that only pays off if the petition is actually adjudicated. Money is at risk, the escrow or project timeline is running, and the one variable the investor cannot control is how long USCIS sits on the file.
Mandamus does not change the investment threshold and cannot accelerate a statutory deadline. What it does is force a decision on a petition the agency has left unadjudicated past any reasonable period. Where an I-526E has been pending well beyond the Investor Program Office's posted processing time and inquiries have produced nothing, the TRAC analysis is available on the same terms as any other unreasonable-delay claim.
The strength of the claim in this posture comes from factor three and factor five. The investor's capital is already deployed and irretrievable on any practical timeline, and the prejudice from continued inaction is concrete and quantifiable in a way that is unusual in immigration delay litigation. Nothing about the 2027 increase weakens that argument. If anything, an agency that knows a statutory deadline has driven a filing surge has less excuse, not more, for failing to staff the resulting queue.
I litigate EB-5 delay at each stage — I-526E, the adjustment application, and the I-829. If your petition has been sitting well past its posted processing time, the position is worth reviewing.
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EB-5 adjustment of status mandamus covers the stage after I-526E approval, when the I-485 stalls.
I-829 mandamus addresses removal of conditions at the end of the EB-5 process.
The TRAC factors are the framework every unreasonable-delay claim is measured against.
FOIA requests can produce the underlying refugee/asylum file.