Over the past few years there have been a lot of changes to EB-5 that have made it a more difficult program for many potential immigrants to use. A few of the biggest issues we are seeing from many potential clients are: They feel that the current EB-5 quota backlog time for their country, especially China, is too long to be reasonable and investors are unwilling to wait 15 plus years to move to the US. Seeing USCIS processing times conti... Read More

The Department of State has issued guidance that all I-526 petitions for the EB-5 visa program must move to electronic processing as of June 2018. In order to communicate with the National Visa Center (NVC), applicants will be required to provide a valid email address. The new system accepts all supporting documents in .PDF format. With that in mind, applicants should scan all application documents and supporting documents and should submit th... Read More

As we have been continuing to provide new viewpoints and updates on key facets of the EB-5 program, a few potentially meaningful regulatory changes enacted over the past few years have not been fully explored. With that in mind, this article is meant to explain a set of existing requirements that were changed in June of 2017, but that may have important effects on EB-5 as more people look to utilize the program. Changes to Redeployment of Fund... Read More

Just to give a basic sense of the difficulties Indian nationals may face in gaining permanent residence or a Green Card, here is an example of what might be experienced for an Indian national who arrives in the U.S. for college and decides that he/she wants to remain in the country permanently: After graduating from College, our example is eligible to stay in the US for practical training. This program is becoming increasingly difficult to e... Read More

With the current EB-5 backlog in China, we are seeing a lot of new interest in the Grenada E-2 visa for Chinese nationals. With that in mind, this article seeks to explain the differences between these two investor visas. Differences between Green Card & Visa The EB-5 visa, once fully processed provides investors with a Green Card. The E-2 visa, on the other hand, only provides a visa. The E-2 visa has the longest nonimmigrant visa vali... Read More

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued guidance decided that tenant-occupancy methodologies will no longer be used to prove job creation. The USCIS has these methodologies do not reasonably predict job creation, so will no longer be accepted. Tenant occupancy models will no longer be accepted as of May 15, 2018. I-526 and I-829 petitions related to previously approved projects may receive deference from USCIS. Th... Read More

USCIS Bulletin Shows Some Movement for China and Vietnam EB-5 Cutoff Dates The June Visa Bulletin recently released by USCIS shows EB-5 cutoff dates for China and Vietnam advancing 1 week, to August 1, 2014. This slow pace of advancement was expected, but is still quite frustrating for the industry. Employment- based All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed CHINA- mainland born EL SALVADOR GUATEMALA HONDURAS INDIA MEXICO ... Read More

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued a new Policy Alert updating the USCIS Policy Manual  to make some meaningful changes to the documentation required for conditional residency provided by USCIS to EB-5 applicants with pending I-829 petitions. The new alert says that any EB-5 investor with conditional residency will be required to file an I-829 petition to remove the conditions of their residency. This  filin... Read More

Investment Amount Increases Possible as Soon as August A new agenda released by the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) suggests that we may see an increase in EB-5 investment amounts as soon as August of this year. The OMB's "Final Action" estimate is August for a set of changes that would both increase investment amounts and change key rules regarding Targeted Economic Areas (TEAs). New Delhi American Consul Re-Adjudicating Some EB-5 Pet... Read More

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has begun approval of I-526 petitions from principal applicants who were minors when the relevant EB-5 investment agreements were signed. This is a meaningful change, which has some interesting implications for many EB-5 applicants: New Opportunities for Chinese Investors with Children. By allowing approval of applicants who were minors at the time of investment agreement signing,... Read More