Government filing fees for each stage, published in the USCIS fee schedule; project administration or subscription fees where a pooled investment is used; legal fees for the petition and the source-of-funds work; and the cost of documenting the funds themselves.
The investment is not the whole cheque
Applicants planning around the qualifying capital alone are usually short. Filing fees apply at more than one stage and are set out in the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, which should be read at the time rather than recalled. Where the investment is made through a pooled project, administrative or subscription fees are charged in addition to the capital and are often not refundable, so their treatment should be understood before signing. Legal fees for an EB-5 petition reflect substantial work, most of it on the source and path of funds. Accountants, translators, appraisers and title searchers may all be needed. And there are the costs of the second stage two years later, which is a separate filing with its own fee and its own evidence. A budget that stops at the investment number understates the project.
Hypothetical example: A Canadian berry-processing entrepreneur compares two immigrant investor projects that quote similar administrative charges. The decision should not begin with those charges. One project requires extensive source-of-funds work because the capital comes from multiple loans and asset sales; the other has a simpler source but higher due-diligence costs. Both still require qualifying capital placed at risk and a credible basis for the required job creation, followed by conditional residence rather than a guaranteed permanent result. Budget separately for project review, immigration preparation, translations, tax advice, bank transfers, and any financing documentation. A low advertised fee can conceal a complex source trail or commercial risk. The first review should identify which costs buy evidence and which merely move money, then ask whether the investor can absorb a loss without compromising the required capital contribution.