The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Impact Report (2016–2019) presents one of the most comprehensive examinations of the EB-5 Program’s economic contributions to the United States. Developed by Fourth Economy and commissioned by Invest in the USA (IIUSA), the report quantifies the effects of foreign direct investment under the EB-5 program on U.S. job creation, wages, tax revenues, and overall GDP. It covers the four-year period from 2016 to 2019, using detailed federal data, regional center reports, and economic modeling.

The EB-5 program, created by Congress in 1990, provides a pathway to lawful permanent residence for qualified foreign investors who invest in U.S. enterprises that create or preserve at least ten full-time jobs for American workers. The Regional Center program, established in 1992, further enabled pooled investments and expanded the program’s geographic and sectoral reach.

The report’s overarching goal is to document how EB-5 investments have contributed to national and local economic growth, and to evaluate how structural constraints—such as visa caps, processing delays, and periodic lapses in reauthorization—limit its potential.

From 2016 through 2019, the EB-5 program generated enormous economic activity across the United States:

These results demonstrate that the EB-5 program is a significant economic driver that operates entirely without taxpayer expense. All capital is sourced from foreign investors, and government administrative costs are covered by program fees.

Beyond historical data, the report also models potential outcomes under optimized conditions — showing that removing structural constraints could multiply investment flows and economic benefits.

The background section of the report traces how the EB-5 program has evolved through legislation and regulation. Investors must invest in a new commercial enterprise that creates at least ten full-time U.S. jobs, either directly or indirectly. Under the Regional Center program, projects can count indirect and induced employment through economic-impact modeling.

Regional centers are federally designated entities that aggregate investor capital and direct it into development projects, typically within specific geographic areas. By 2023, approved regional centers operated in all fifty U.S. states and territories, evidencing the program’s national reach.

The report notes several key regulatory changes over time:

These shifts have influenced investor demand and the flow of capital into U.S. projects. The report underscores that regulatory uncertainty and fluctuating thresholds often create friction that slows investment.

The authors obtained and analyzed data from multiple sources, including:

The report’s dataset comprised 50 PDF files totaling over 26,000 pages of I-924A filings. Many forms included redactions or inconsistent formatting, requiring estimation and cross-referencing with industry input. About 68 percent of the total EB-5 investment recorded ($11.9 billion) came directly from regional center-verified data, with the remainder estimated from FOIA and USCIS sources.

Each investment was assigned to one of 24 six-digit NAICS industry categories, enabling the analysts to model sector-specific job and GDP impacts. Economic impacts were divided into initial (direct), indirect (supply chain), and induced (consumer spending) effects.

While the report acknowledges some data limitations, its methodology is transparent, rigorous, and consistent with accepted economic-impact modeling standards.

Between 2016 and 2019, EB-5 investment reached $17.46 billion, supporting total project investments of $75.24 billion. This indicates that EB-5 capital leveraged approximately $4.3 in total project spending per dollar invested. The industry distribution of these investments is as follows (EB-5 share vs. total project investment):

Construction dominates the EB-5 landscape, accounting for roughly 60 percent of all EB-5 dollars during the study period, followed by accommodation and food services. The report highlights that every $500,000 of EB-5 capital generated about $1.6 million in additional private investment, reflecting a strong multiplier effect and underscoring EB-5’s catalytic role in financing development projects.

The most tangible outcome of EB-5 investment is job creation. From 2016 to 2019, EB-5-funded projects supported approximately 1.65 million total U.S. jobs, distributed as:

This scale of employment impact rivals the total annual workforce of several U.S. states. Moreover, the report estimates that each EB-5 investor indirectly supports about 45 American jobs, far exceeding the statutory minimum requirement of ten jobs per investor.

EB-5-supported employment generated approximately $122.31 billion in wages for American workers over the study period. This includes:

The average annual wage for EB-5-supported positions was about $74,000, nearly 48 percent higher than the average U.S. private-sector wage of approximately $50,000 during the same timeframe. This suggests that EB-5 projects, particularly in construction, infrastructure, and hospitality development, tend to support relatively high-value employment compared with typical private-sector averages.

The total contribution of EB-5 investments to U.S. Gross Domestic Product during 2016–2019 was approximately $184.22 billion, distributed as:

To put these figures in context, this four-year GDP contribution roughly equals the entire annual economic output of states such as Kansas or Arkansas during that period. The report notes that this growth occurred without federal outlay, illustrating how foreign investment directly bolsters U.S. domestic production.

EB-5 investments generated a combined $14.47 billion in tax revenues between 2016 and 2019:

These figures include taxes on wages, business income, property, and indirect sales taxes generated through induced spending. The report emphasizes that all of this revenue accrues without taxpayer cost, as the program is financed through private capital and application fees.

EB-5 investments reached communities across the United States, though concentrated in states with strong real estate and development activity.

Top-performing states (2016–2019):

The report also includes detailed tables for all 50 states, showing that EB-5 impacts extend far beyond major metropolitan areas.

The data reveal that although large urban centers capture a significant portion of EB-5 capital, benefits are felt nationwide through supply-chain and induced employment effects.

To illustrate the program’s untapped potential, the report models two scenarios in which existing constraints are removed:

These projections underscore how policy reforms could vastly expand the program’s contribution to the U.S. economy.

Interviews with regional center operators, attorneys, and industry experts identify recurring challenges:

Stakeholders uniformly argue that stabilizing the program through long-term or permanent authorization and more efficient adjudication processes would yield significant national economic benefits.

The report positions EB-5 as a rare economic-development mechanism that simultaneously attracts foreign direct investment, creates high-quality U.S. jobs, and generates substantial tax revenues—all without budgetary expenditure.

For policymakers, the findings strengthen the argument for permanent reauthorization of the Regional Center program and reform of visa allocations to exclude derivatives. The data demonstrate that every dollar of EB-5 capital generates multiple dollars of total economic output and government revenue.

For regional centers and project sponsors, the analysis provides valuable benchmarks for project structuring, marketing, and risk assessment. High job-creation multipliers and average wages can help attract both investors and local economic-development partners.

For economic-development agencies, the geographic data offer a basis to align EB-5 investments with state or municipal infrastructure priorities, particularly in construction, transportation, and hospitality sectors.

For foreign investors, the report reinforces that EB-5 capital not only facilitates immigration benefits but also contributes meaningfully to the U.S. economy and community development.

The report candidly acknowledges several limitations and opportunities for future research:

The EB-5 Impact Report (2016–2019) concludes that the EB-5 program has delivered extraordinary economic benefits to the United States. Over four years, it injected $17.5 billion in foreign investment, supported 1.65 million jobs, and generated $184 billion in GDP and $14.5 billion in tax revenue—all at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.

Yet the report stresses that this success represents only a fraction of what could be achieved under a stable and efficiently managed system. The “call to action” urges stakeholders to:

The report closes by emphasizing that EB-5 represents a model for how immigration policy and economic development can align to create mutual benefit: attracting global capital while fueling American job growth. With policy reforms, the EB-5 program could play an even larger role in strengthening U.S. competitiveness and revitalizing communities nationwide.

Overall, the report provides compelling evidence that the EB-5 program is an effective vehicle for channeling foreign capital into productive U.S. ventures. It strengthens local economies, generates well-paid employment, and delivers measurable fiscal returns. At the same time, it highlights the fragility of the system when constrained by administrative inefficiencies and policy uncertainty.

The EB-5 Impact Report (2016–2019) stands as a robust validation of the program’s achievements and a roadmap for unlocking its full potential in the years ahead.