This fact limits how much sophistication or effectiveness we can expect from IPO when it comes to evaluating EB-5 investor petitions or overseeing the regional center industry. Which historically means that only China, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Philippines and Dominican Republic are in the country cap danger zone overall, and the last two can safely be disregarded for this report since theyve never been remotely significant in EB-5. Hong Kong likewise suffered, with only 142 EB-5 visas issued in FY2022 despite 866 Hong Kong applicants ready at NVC at the start of the year. I-526 routinely get denied for not providing such evidence, because RFEs and decisions can point to justification in the law although USCIS doesnt publicly request the evidence in their forms, instructions, filing tips, or policy manual. From 2018 to Summer 2022, the number of adjudicators assigned to I-526 fell by 61%. (I wish that policy could be litigated on behalf of the over 18,000 EB-5 visas lost during the expiration.) few direct I-526 filed and even fewer making it through I-526 processing to the visa stage). Policy: Oversee the division developing regional center compliance. I wouldnt exactly call it an engagement, since USCIS did not address many questions that we submitted in advance, and responded to the majority of in-person questions with thank you for your input and/or please send this question to the EB-5 Customer Service Mailbox (a notorious black hole). People in government and industry who want to pave the way for future EB-5 investment and more I-526 (I-526E) filings must look at processing factors as of today. Many stakeholder questions about ambiguities were met with the response USCIS may consider rulemaking to address these issues.. (Personally I would not file I-526 relying on an I-924 exemplar approval without I-956F, since I-924 had half the content required for an exemplar under the new law plus different approval standards, and any material change cancels exemplar deference according to the new law.) Just 188 I-526/I-526E were filed in July to September 2022. (607) 200-3758. I estimate that a majority of the Chinese backlog (at least 2016/2017 priority dates) would get visas at least by 2032. The I-956K instructions request that a promoter should submit Form I-956K before operating on behalf of any of the specified entities or promoting any offering under the EB-5 Regional Center Program. (See also the article Who are Promoters and What Requirements Apply to Them Under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act? in the October 2022 Regional Center Business Journal, and the above-linked Federal Register invitation to submit I-956 comments to USCIS. When pressed about this during the Q&A, Mr. Egan had already left the call and none of the other USCIS reps wanted to confirm or clarify his statement. My dream for the future is that EB-5 will also stabilize in the sense of offering a reliable opportunity to immigrate based on investment. Want to be updated with the latest news about U.S. Investor Visas? Pay attention to volume trends, and to the distribution of filing dates being adjudicated. And heres the Settlement Agreement. At the EB-5 listening session on April 29, 2022, USCIS Director Jaddou recognized that The EB-5 investor program allows individuals to become vital and contributing members of the United States. The parties are still discussing how DHS should handle pre-existing regional centers and their existing and new investors under the new rules. I did not expect to start my 14th year in EB-5 grappling with basic questions like How and why do regional centers exist? and Is EB-5 an immigration opportunity? I hope that 2023 will bring policy clarifications and processing improvements to help resolve such questions, which should not be open. The bright side is that consular problems affect not only EB-5 but also family-based visa issuance, and EB-5 benefits in 2023 from a share in FB visas that went un-issued in 2022 (as reflected in 2023s unusually high EB visa limit). 5 Comments, On October 7, the USCIS Policy Manual was updated with revisions to some of the policy affected by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act. I would love to see the U.S. government supply EB-5 visa numbers sufficient to reward the investment-fueled U.S. job creation that already occurred based on the promise of such visas. IIUSA published a new data report on the latest Form I-526 statistics, analyzing the trends of overall demand for EB-5, adjudication of I-526 cases, average approval rates, and the current I-526 . See minute 4 and 1:12:13 of my recording. not yet fully invested) when they file their Form I-526 petition as permitted under applicable requirements and, additionally, would not align with the sustainment period for those who filed prior to the 2022 Act, which runs approximately to the point of the Form I-829 filing, regardless of when they filed their Form I-526 or made their investment.. These forms have material that RIA unambiguously requires USCIS to collect and review for all regional centers, including those designated prior to RIA, and RCs should benefit from getting that submission and review done as soon as possible. Employment-Based Dates for Filing Chart 4. USCIS Adjudication Trends - Invest In the USA The meeting was 95% technical clarifications on Form I-956K the regional center promoter registration form that functions to feed paper to the black vaults of USCIS, which neither adjudicates the form nor (at least so far) makes it actionable by divulging form compliance or non-compliance to prospective/current investors or regional centers. USCIS knows how many people are getting in line by filing I-526/I-526E, but USCIS has persistently refused to publicly report on I-526 filings/inventory by category or country. Annual Report: Although the USCIS website I-956G instructions say that regional centers approved after May 14, 2022 may file the I-956G annual report, the Investor Program Office gave different instructions in the call. (Even better if we can get monthly reports with data only one month old, but truly anything will be an improvement over current blank silence. ); 1:03 Rana Jazayerli (I-956 amendment filings, does it preclude also requesting expanded geography? USCIS explained that todays publications will be the only notice, and that USCIS will not individually notify or send invoices to regional centers.) Evidence to establish regional center geography; Whether regional center policies and procedures need to be provided or only described; What circumstances require an I-956F amendment; Whether stand-alone investors need to use fund administration; The definition of an infrastructure project; Whether regional center annual reports need to cover funds raised prior to RIA. For reference, here is my redline document comparison of the October 7, 2022 version of Volume 6 Part G with the previous version dated July 22, 2021. Without country caps, applicants from all countries except China with pre-2022 priority dates who dont already have a visa by FY2025 could wait until 2032 before they can start getting visas. Its not like stakeholder meeting comments, which can disappear into the void. But instead, I made a picture. Prodded by litigation, USCIS has made limited adjustments to the EB-5 pages on the USCIS website. I was surprised mainly by the number of Canadians on this years list (why, Canada?) As it turns out, federal agencies that would know about such a thing have no record of any such order, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. EB-5 visa issuance in FY2022 was as low as it was largely due to the unfortunately protracted regional center program expiration, and the policy that prevented visas from being issued to regional center applicants from October 2021 to May 2022. If and when USCIS hires more staff for EB-5, it takes an average 241 days to move a new USCIS adjudicator from hiring decision to completion of basic training, according to the CIS Ombudsman. (And as a practical matter, regional centers cannot retroactively change the persons who were involved in pooling investment that was pooled prior to RIA.). Its a pity, because EB-5 will lose over 10,000 visas by FY2024 if the newly-reserved EB-5 visas both cant be issued (because strictly restricted to post-RIA applicants who cant reach the visa stage yet) and also cant be carried over to the next year (as RIA had contemplated). The Investor Program Office is acting as if it could count on darkness and inattention. To facilitate analysis, I compiled and am sharing a compilation of IPO job postings in 2022/2023. A closer look at the data reveals other details of interest. The law and conditions that determine the EB-5 visa allocated are those that pertain at the time the visa is allocated a time years after investment under current processing conditions. Not applicable to regional centers that already deposited and deployed investor funds to capital investment projects prior to RIA, and are not raising any new funds to be deposited or deployed. As things stand, the United States has raised and benefited from about 15 billion dollars in EB-5 investment over and above what it can justify based on current EB-5 visa number limits. Five of the advertised positions are primarily occupied with records management. Last week, USCIS updated the Immigration and Citizenship Data page with reports for FY2022 Q3 (April to June 2022). If youre with an RC that does not plan to raise new capital after RIA, and concerned about protecting past investors, you should also let USCIS hear your voice and reasoning, as soon as possible. As noted above and with reference to the Behring Settlement Agreement, a previously-approved regional center is only required to amend its designation under subparagraph (E) for the purposes of sponsoring new projects and new investors under the Integrity Act.. This is a great chance to submit your view on the application/implementation of regional center requirements, because a responsible person at DHS is compelled to actually read and respond to each comment made through the regulatory process. Were partway there, and with so much scope for improvement going forward. Thus pending applicants from any one country can only expect up to 7% of the 68% unreserved EB-5 visas (with otherwise unused unreserved numbers going to the oldest priority dates i.e. The EB-5 Visa: An Ideal Solution for H-1B or L-1 Visa Workers Who Have Been Laid Off. For further insight into the context of EB-5 processing, I recommend the CIS Ombudsman 2022 Annual Report to Congress. An on-going reporting requirement would naturally apply to every regional center with EB-5 funds under on-going management. USCIS will accept input on the issue of whether the I-956G filing requirement should be deferred to December 2023 based on input from Stakeholders that much of the information is duplicative with the I-956 being filed in December 2022. UPDATE: The IIUSA blog has published my detailed analysis of the formula and inputs behind the fee rule, with thoughts on how to respond. The visas available to India back when you filed I-526 must still be available to you now, right? In the meantime, Ill suggest a reading list of articles from other sources, followed by a comment on the October 2022 visa bulletin. However, that would likely be underinclusive given that many investors are actively in the process of investing (i.e. ), Filed under EB-5 Law & Policy, EB-5 Statistics, December 6, 2022 Ill comment in more detail when USCIS publishes the prepared statements, as promised. The litigation Behring Regional Center LLC v. Mayorkas et al. IPO management might proudly point out that they have improved since the new EB-5 law, approving almost 100 I-526 in May 2022, compared with only 9 in February 2022. EB-5 Visa Blog: Get EB-5 News and Information - EB5Investors.com The experience of existing investors will influence a regional centers ability to attract new investment. USCIS interprets RIA to mean that every regional center, regardless of when designated and regardless of when or if it sponsored investors, needs to make its annual Integrity Fund payment of $10,000 or $20,000 to USCIS between tomorrow and March 31, 2023. To compensate for resource problems, IPO has fiddled with processing order, implementing multiple queues and a visa availability approach that effectively excludes thousands of I-526 from the processing workload. EB-5 processing volumes have yet to recover from the regional center program shutdown or the new law (not to mention the 2019 Reset Training at IPO), but I keep watching and hoping. With your background and status, you should be capable and informed about the EB-5 process. Perhaps, after engaging in a reasoned decisionmaking process and considering the competing policy factors, the agency could conclude that Behring and the other previously authorized regional centers can no longer operate until they have successfully reapplied by submitting new I-956 petitions. Filed under EB-5 Resources, EB-5 Statistics, September 1, 2022 USCIS has not determined what will happen to regional centers that choose not to file Form I-956. (FY2022 is still much better than FY2021, when EB-5 lost 15,673 total visas, and FY2020, when EB-5 lost 7,498 visas.). With the exception of a low-level clerical position, none of the positions posted was open to the public. Discussed Regional Center compliance, I-956 forms, I-956 adjudications, RC annual report requirement. Think about it: in a situation where unlimited tickets can be sold for limited seats, why might prospective ticket buyers possibly want to inquire about how many tickets have already been sold? Reading the policy manual and the website, I guess that writers have been instructed as much as possible just quote the law and dont add any clarifications or further guidance, which could get us sued., October 7, 2022 Practically, this means that shepherd regional centers should continue to report on their management of EB-5 investment and be subject to penalties for reasons related to fund management, but should not have to file I-956 and I-956F, or to complete the portions of I-956G that are indexed to I-956 and I-956F and to requirements specific to capital raising activities. The Policy Alert does not acknowledge that Volume 6 Part G is now a confusing mix of half updated and half outdated content, but I trust that USCIS realizes the fact and is still at work to finish the job. The large number of denials reflects attitudes at the Investor Program Office, particularly toward direct EB-5 cases, and particularly since the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act protected USCIS from judicial review of unjust EB-5 decisions. These minutes reveal that at least as of October, USCIS had yet to make up its mind about a few very consequential questions, and invited stakeholder feedback. EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act implementation does not dominate recent IPO job postings. As a reminder, you can find the most recent breakdown of total pending I-526 by country of petitioner origin in the. We reveal the cost and requirements of the EB5 visa in 2022!Watch this exclusive WEBINAR w. In practice, IPO processing output has been very low for an office with 200+ employees mostly earning $100,000+ per year each. Citizenship and Immigration Services