EB-5 Investor Green Card Timelines Are Now on GreenCardClock, Including the Set-Aside Window
The Priority Date Estimator now covers EB-5 investors. You can select EB-5 Investor (Unreserved) for India, China, Mexico, Philippines, or Rest of World, in both planning mode and already-filed mode, and get the same kind of estimate we build for EB-2 and EB-3: real demand ahead of your priority date divided by real visa supply, with every input printed on the page.
Sources: the July 2026 visa bulletin and State Department bulletin history back to October 2015, the USCIS employment-based I-485 pending inventory (April 2026), USCIS quarterly I-526 petition data (through FY2026 Q1), and DOS Report of the Visa Office issuance tables (FY2016 through FY2024). Not legal, financial, or investment advice.
The short version
- EB-5 unreserved is a real queue now. India is Unavailable until visa numbers reset around October, and China has sat behind a December 2016 cutoff for years.
- The three set-aside categories created by the 2022 reform law (Rural, High Unemployment, Infrastructure) are still Current for every country of birth, which allows filing I-526E and I-485 together.
- But the set-aside queues are filling fast. About 7,929 rural I-485 applications are already pending worldwide, roughly 4 years of demand at the annual supply. High Unemployment is at 8,505 pending, roughly 8.6 years, which makes it more oversubscribed than rural. Infrastructure is genuinely open.
- We print the demand and supply inputs instead of guessing a retrogression date, so you can watch the pressure build yourself.
How EB-5 works, in three sentences
EB-5 is the investor green card: invest $800,000 in a rural, high unemployment, or infrastructure project (or $1,050,000 anywhere else) in a business that creates ten jobs, file I-526E (regional center) or I-526 (standalone), and wait for a visa number under the same monthly bulletin that governs every other green card category. The 2022 Reform and Integrity Act split the roughly 9,940 annual EB-5 visas into set-asides: 20 percent rural, 10 percent high unemployment, 2 percent infrastructure, with the remaining 68 percent unreserved. If a visa number is available for your category, you can file I-485 at the same time as the petition, which brings a work permit and travel document while the case is pending.
The unreserved queues are real
For investors already in the unreserved line, the estimator computes the wait from the printed inputs. Two examples from today's live data:
| Country | July 2026 status | Example priority date | Demand ahead (with dependents) | Estimated wait |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | Unavailable until numbers resume (around October) | Early 2025 | ~735 visa numbers | Roughly 0.8 to 1.3 years once numbers resume |
| China | Final Action Date December 2016 | Early 2020 | ~4,633 visa numbers | Roughly 0.5 to 6.7 years depending on supply |
The wide China range is honest, not evasive: China's unreserved issuance has swung between the statutory floor of 696 and 9,312 in a single year depending on how much worldwide slack it absorbs, and each scenario card shows exactly which supply level produces which date. If you have already filed I-485, the filed view estimates your wait for a visa number from the cases ahead of you; an India investor today sees roughly 4 to 8 months.
The set-aside window, quantified
This is the part of EB-5 nobody else puts numbers on. All three set-asides are Current for every country, including India and China. A new investor in a qualifying project can file everything at once today. The question that matters is how long that stays true, and the demand data already gives a strong hint:
| Set-aside | Annual supply (approx.) | I-485 already pending worldwide | Demand on file vs annual supply |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rural (20%) | ~1,988 | ~7,929 | ~4 years |
| High Unemployment (10%) | ~994 | ~8,505 | ~8.6 years |
| Infrastructure (2%) | ~199 | ~103 | ~0.5 years |
Behind those filed cases sit another 9,734 pending I-526E petitions as of the first quarter of FY2026 (up from 8,965 a quarter earlier), with 6,493 received in the last four reported quarters, before counting family members. Unused set-aside visas carry over within the set-aside for one year, which softens the near-term pressure, but once demand on file exceeds annual supply the State Department can impose a cutoff date with little warning. When you select EB-5 on the estimator, this analysis appears with live numbers and updates as each new government report lands.
Why now
On July 2, DHS published a 358 page proposed rule that would reshape parts of the EB-5 program: a proposed $1,400,000 tier for high employment areas, inflation adjustments starting in 2027, the end of the troubled business pathway, and expanded oversight of regional centers. It is a proposal, not law; the public comment period runs through August 31, 2026. Whatever the final rule looks like, more people are asking the same two questions right now: how long is the unreserved wait, and how long does the set-aside window stay open. The estimator answers both from public data.
Try it with your own priority date on the Priority Date Estimator. It is free.
This article is informational only. The figures above are estimates computed from public government data as of July 13, 2026 and will change as new reports are published. Nothing here is legal, financial, or investment advice, and set-aside eligibility depends on the specific project. For guidance about your own case or investment, consult a licensed immigration attorney.