# How EB-5 Visas Are Allocated: the 7.1% Share, Per-Country Caps, and Fall-Across

> From the 7.1% share of employment-based visas to the 7% per-country ceiling and the separate accounting for set-aside categories, this article explains how EB-5 visa numbers are allocated, why China- and India-born applicants face backlogs, and why family members count against the quota.

- URL: https://eb5policy.com/policy/per-country-cap-and-visa-allocation/
- Language: en
- Category: policy
- Published: 2026-08-26
- Tags: quota, backlog, per-country cap, visa bulletin

"EB-5 gets about ten thousand visas a year" is the most frequently quoted figure in the program, but how those ten thousand numbers are divided among countries and categories determines how long any given investor waits. This article does not discuss specific cut-off dates (those are updated monthly in the Visa Bulletin; see [Reading the Visa Bulletin](/news/october-2026-visa-bulletin/)). Instead it explains the allocation mechanics themselves: where the numbers come from, how they are split, why certain countries are backlogged, and why the set-aside categories created by the RIA are counted separately.

## Layer one: EB-5 receives 7.1% of the employment-based total

The annual supply of employment-based (EB) immigrant visas is set by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) with a base of 140,000. INA 203(b)(5) allocates 7.1% of that total to EB-5, which works out to roughly ten thousand visas per year.

Two facts matter here:

1. **The quota is counted per fiscal year.** The U.S. federal fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30, and the visa supply resets each year.
2. **Principal applicants and family members share the same ten thousand.** A spouse and each unmarried child under 21 who immigrate as derivatives each consume one visa number. The number of investor families that can actually receive visas is therefore far smaller than ten thousand, usually well under half. Derivative demand is one of the fundamental causes of backlogs.

The employment-based total is also not fixed. Under the INA, family-sponsored numbers left unused in the prior fiscal year fall across into the following year's employment-based total, which raises EB-5's 7.1% share accordingly. This is why EB-5 has had noticeably more than ten thousand visas available in some years. The reverse is not true for EB-5's own surplus: numbers that EB-5 does not use do not stay in EB-5 but flow to other employment-based categories in the statutory order.

## Layer two: the 7% per-country ceiling

INA 202 imposes a per-country limit across all family-sponsored and employment-based categories: no single country, determined by the applicant's **country of birth** rather than citizenship, may receive more than 7% of the combined annual total. Applied to EB-5, this means that investors born in a given country, together with their family members, can use only about 7% of the annual EB-5 supply, a figure in the hundreds.

The ceiling operates as follows:

- When a country's demand is below 7%, its applicants are "current" and face no cut-off date.
- When a country's demand exceeds 7%, its applicants may use that 7% share only in priority-date order, and a backlog forms.
- When the EB-5 category as a whole still has surplus numbers (because other countries have not used theirs), those otherwise unused numbers may be allocated to backlogged countries, again in priority-date order. Backlogged countries therefore usually receive more than a strict 7%, but still within the overall ceiling.

## Why China and India

For much of EB-5's history, investors born in mainland China made up the large majority of petitioners, and India-born demand has grown rapidly in recent years. When a single country's annual demand (principals plus family members) far exceeds its 7% share, and other countries have largely used up the remainder, that country develops a backlog that lengthens as pending cases accumulate.

It bears emphasis that a backlog is not a USCIS "policy" directed at any country. It is the natural outcome of the INA's allocation rules applied to the demand pattern. There are only two ways to shorten it: increase the supply of numbers for the category, or reduce demand from that country. The first requires legislation; the second depends on the market.

One frequently relevant exception to the country-of-birth rule: if the investor's spouse was born in a country without a backlog, the principal applicant may **be charged to the spouse's country of birth** (cross-chargeability). The rule is set out in INA 202(b) and is an important planning tool for international families, but its application in any given case should be confirmed by counsel.

## Layer three: set-aside and unreserved categories are counted separately

The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) introduced three set-aside categories:

| Category | Share of annual EB-5 numbers |
|---|---|
| Rural projects | 20% |
| High-unemployment area projects | 10% |
| Infrastructure projects | 2% |
| Unreserved | 68% |

The defining feature of the set-asides is **separate accounting**: each set-aside has its own pool of numbers, its own per-country ceiling, and its own line in the Visa Bulletin. A China-born investor in a rural project is queuing for "the China-born share of the rural set-aside," not for the China-born share of EB-5 as a whole. Because the number of set-aside petitions filed since the RIA was initially modest, these categories have remained current for backlogged countries for an extended period, which is exactly why they attract attention.

The carry-over rule is: set-aside numbers unused in a given year roll into **the same set-aside category the following year**; only if they remain unused in that second year do they fall into the unreserved category. Surplus in a set-aside therefore does not immediately benefit backlogged applicants in the unreserved category.

## The Visa Bulletin: how the mechanics become dates

The Department of State's monthly Visa Bulletin is the consolidated expression of all three layers. For EB-5 it lists separate dates for the unreserved category and for each set-aside, broken down by country. The two charts mean different things:

- **Chart A (Final Action Dates)**: applicants whose priority date is earlier than the listed date may be issued a visa or have adjustment of status approved.
- **Chart B (Dates for Filing)**: applicants in the United States whose priority date is earlier than the listed date may file Form I-485, provided USCIS announces that it is using Chart B for that month.

Dates advance, and they can also retrogress. Retrogression generally occurs when the Department of State finds that demand in a category is higher than projected. It is part of the normal operation of the allocation system, not a policy change.

## Key takeaways

- EB-5 receives 7.1% of the 140,000 employment-based total, roughly ten thousand visas per fiscal year, shared between principals and family members.
- Each country of birth is capped at 7%; numbers that other countries do not use may be allocated to backlogged countries in priority-date order.
- The China and India backlogs are the natural result of demand exceeding the per-country share, not of USCIS adjudication policy.
- The RIA's three set-asides (rural 20%, high-unemployment 10%, infrastructure 2%) each have their own quota and per-country ceiling; unused numbers roll into the same category the following year before falling into the unreserved pool.
- Chart A of the Visa Bulletin governs final approval and Chart B governs I-485 filing; dates can move forward or backward, and the monthly Department of State and USCIS announcements control.