USCIS Policy Update

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is making updates to its policy manual regarding the geographic area of a regional center. Namely, the updates involve changes to requests to expand geographic area and how such a request would impact the filing of Form I-526 petitions.

One policy update states that a Form I-924 amendment must be filed and approved to expand a regional center’s geographic area for any request made on or after February 22nd 2017. Another update explains that USCIS will warrant a change in regional center affiliation for a material change in cases if the change takes place after Form I-526 has been filed.

The policy update clarified that USCIS decides whether an economic methodology is reasonable in proving that the current geographic area of a regional center is limiting and truly needs expansion. USCIS will further determine whether multipliers and assumptions about a certain project’s geographic impact are within reason. The policy further explains that a geographic area must be consistent with the purpose of generating a concentrated pool of investment in a defined economic zone, while also being limited and contiguous.