Rural EB-5 Projects: Your Fastest Route to a U.S. Green Card

While the EB-5 program allows you and your family to qualify for permanent residency through investment, the process can take time. Processing backlogs, visa availability, and USCIS review periods may sometimes add up, which is not ideal for many investors.

However, the changes introduced by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) created new advantages for certain types of investments. In particular, EB-5 rural projects offer a path to quicker Green Card approvals and have become a strategic option for those who want to shorten the wait time and reduce the uncertainty associated with potential EB-5 backlogs.

In this article, we will break down why rural investments stand out within the EB-5 program and specific features you should look for when choosing one.

What Are Targeted Employment Area Projects?

Since 1990, the EB-5 program has provided foreign nationals with a pathway to U.S. Green Cards through qualifying investments in U.S. businesses that create at least 10 full-time jobs for U.S. workers. The program, managed by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), was created to drive economic growth, with additional incentives for projects located in underserved regions.

These areas are called targeted employment areas (TEAs), and while the standard EB-5 minimum investment is $1,050,000, a project in a TEA qualifies for the lower amount of $800,000. TEAs fall into two main categories: rural and high-unemployment urban areas. Rural projects generally provide the most advantages to investors.

Advantages of Choosing a Rural EB-5 Investment Project

A project is classified as a rural TEA investment if it is located outside a metropolitan statistical area. Also, it must lie beyond the boundary of any city or town with a population of 20,000 or more, based on the most recent U.S. census. Alongside the lower investment threshold of $800,000 that comes with TEA investments, you enjoy these significant benefits:

Priority Processing

Applicants who choose rural projects receive faster petition processing times. Filing an EB-5 petition is a critical step, and depending on the type of investment, investors file either Form I-526 or Form I-526E. Here is a summary of their differences:

• Form I-526 or Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor: Used by direct investors who invest into a new commercial enterprise independently. Direct investors face heavier management duties and tougher job creation requirements. Also, they must rely only on direct jobs because indirect or induced jobs cannot be counted.
• Form I-526E or Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor: Filed by investors working with USCIS-approved regional centers, this route offers more flexibility since indirect and induced jobs may be counted. Moreover, regional centers pool capital from multiple investors, which allows developers to fund larger projects and strengthen job creation prospects.

Recent FOIA data release further highlights the advantage of rural filings:

• USCIS approved around 97% of both rural and urban TEA petitions from 2022 through early 2025. But rural petitions received far quicker adjudication, even though urban petitions outnumbered rural ones.
• From April 2022 to January 2025, 53% of petitions filed were for urban projects and 44% for rural projects. Even so, USCIS processed three times as many rural petitions.
• Between February 2023 and May 2025, USCIS adjudicated 967 rural filings compared to only 74 urban ones. Nearly all rural petitions were approved in under a year, proving that rural projects enjoy a clear priority in processing compared with the urban or high-unemployment category.

Set-Aside Visa Access

Each year, the EB-5 program allocates a fixed number of visas for investors, spouses, and unmarried children under 21. No country can receive more than 7% of the annual quota, which often creates visa backlogs in countries with high demand, such as China and India.

To address these delays, the RIA created visa set-aside categories for rural TEAs, high-unemployment TEAs, and certain infrastructure projects. The reserved percentages of the total EB-5 visa quota for each of these three categories are as follows:

• Rural TEAs: 20%
• High-Unemployment TEAs: 10%
• Public Infrastructure Projects: 2%

With 20% of visas reserved for their category, rural investors are less likely to experience visa backlogs or long delays compared to other applicants.

How to Identify a Strong Rural EB-5 Project

To make sure your funds are safe and your immigration goals are met, you should evaluate the following factors of a rural EB-5 project before committing:

• Consistent track record: Look into the regional center’s track record for I-526E and I-829 approvals, transparency, willingness to share project documents, and the availability of detailed financial and business plans. A strong track record signals reliability.
• Diversified funding: The best projects are not solely dependent on EB-5 capital. Instead, they have significant developer equity contributions and senior financing from trusted banks, which lowers risks for EB-5 investors.
• Ongoing construction: Projects with construction already in progress pose less risk. In some cases, such projects may already meet certain EB-5 requirements, such as job creation, making them safer options for investors.
• Job creation guarantees: Every EB-5 investment must result in at least 10 full-time U.S. jobs. So, you should choose projects with credible forecasts projecting more than the required minimum as a margin of safety for investors.

Accelerate Your Journey With EB5AN’s Rural Projects

Rural EB-5 investments are one of the most strategic ways to secure a U.S. Green Card as quickly and efficiently as possible. Still, the quality of the project you choose matters to protect both your investment and your immigration goals.

At EB5AN, we sponsor carefully vetted rural projects that balance lower risk with strong compliance. Our team has helped more than 2,700 foreign investors to secure their Green Cards.

Book a free call with us today to check our list of reliable rural investments that are compliant to protect your permanent residency plans.