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New USCIS Documentation Provides Interesting New Insights on EB-5
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 | PHILIPPINES | VIETNAM |
| 1st | C | 01JAN12 | C | 01JAN12 | C | C | C |
| 2nd | C | 01SEP14 | C | 26DEC08 | C | C | C |
| 3rd | C | 01JUN15 | C | 01MAY08 | C | 01JAN17 | C |
| Other Workers | C | 01MAY07 | C | 01MAY08 | C | 01JAN17 | C |
| 4th | C | C | 15DEC15 | C | 22OCT16 | C | C |
| Certain Religious Workers | C | C | 15DEC15 | C | 22OCT16 | C | C |
| 5th Non-Regional Center (C5 and T5) |
C | 01AUG14 | C | C | C | C | 01AUG14 |
| 5th Regional Center (I5 and R5) |
C | 01AUG14 | C | C | C | C | 01AUG14 |
New Information on EB-5 Investors with Pending I-829 Petitions
USCIS has recently made and addition to the USCIS Policy Manual Vol. 6 Part G, Chapter 5. The addition reaffirms that immigrant investors and their dependents will have their conditional permanent resident (CPR) status extended by 1 year upon filing of an I-829 petition. The receipt notice from this I-829 submission can be used by immigrant investors and their dependents for as evidence of their continued CPR status for 1 year.
EB-5 investors and dependent family with expired CPR status should note that they will need to obtain biometrics from an Application Service Center (ASC) before their I-829 petition is adjudicated, but after they obtain an I-829 receipt notice. Right now USCIS is experiencing severe delays in issuing I-829 notices and ASC appointment notices due to issues with a recent system conversion at USCIS offices.
It is unlikely that any EB-5 applicants will have their I-829 petition adjudicated within a year of obtaining their receipt notice as current processing times are reported to be between 23-30 months. Given that, many EB-5 investors, as well as their dependents, will want to obtain I-551 stamps in their passports to allow for travel and prove their continuing CPR status. I-551 stamps can be obtained by appointment at USCIS field offices. These appointments can be made at the InfoPass website.
Department of Homeland Security Offers New Info on EB-5 Regulation Changes
The Department of Homeland Security recently released its Spring 2018 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory actions. This agenda provides information on legislative actions that federal agencies plan to implement.
The new Agenda sets the estimated Final Action Date for proposed EB-5 regulations at August 2018. The proposed changes include increasing the minimum investment amount and changing how targeted employment areas (TEAs) are designated. We are not sure that this Final Action Date will stand, but this is further proof that we should expect to see changes to EB-5 regulations in the not-too-distant future.
Another proposed change, RIN 1615-AC11, also known as “EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program” has an expected Final Action Date of March 2019. This change would affect how regional centers are designated and set up new requirements for regional centers to maintain status.
Tenant Occupancy Will No Longer Be Accepted in Counting Jobs
As of May 15, 2018 USCIS has officially stated that it will not accept tenant-occupancy models for job count filings. USCIS has said that they cannot acceptably demonstrated a correlation between investment and indirect job creation.
