The regional center's administrative fee, which is separate from the capital and usually not returned; the I-526E filing fee and the Reform and Integrity Act fund fee at the amounts on the current USCIS schedule; later the immigrant visa or adjustment fees, medical examinations and the I-829 fee; plus legal, source-of-funds and financial-review costs.
Capital is the largest number, not the only one
Hypothetical example: a Haldimand County couple assumes that wiring US$800,000 to a targeted-employment-area project is the whole cost. It is the at-risk capital, which must remain invested through the conditional period. Around it sit fees that are neither invested nor recoverable: the project's administrative or syndication fee, often a substantial five- or six-figure amount; USCIS filing fees for Form I-526E and the statutory integrity-fund fee, at amounts on the current G-1055 schedule, which changed after 2024 and should not be quoted from older materials; consular immigrant-visa fees or adjustment-of-status fees for each family member; medical examinations; and the I-829 filing fee two years later.
Professional fees for the immigration filing and for a lawyer or accountant reviewing the offering are additional. Ask the regional center for a complete written fee schedule, confirm which items are refundable if the petition is denied, and check whether the escrow releases capital to the project before or after the I-526E approval. The answers change the family's real exposure.