Thats all for now Kevin. ); 1:20 Joel Yanovich (problem with incorrect rejection of concurrently-filed I-485); 1:22::40 James Wolf, Golden Pacific (deference to pre-RIA examplars? 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. The April 25, 2023 EB-5 Stakeholder Engagement had a Microsoft Teams webinar format, with IPO staff speaking on video and a chat box where the public had a chance to type questions viewable to admins only. I will not waste time transcribing information that USCIS apparently does not consider reliable enough to record or publish themselves. And the new EB-5 law encourages special priority for new I-526 associated with rural projects. Caught in limbo: Foreign investors, including Indians, sue USCIS - News See my Processing Data page with updated charts and detail for I-526, I-829, and I-485 processing through the end of the year. Under the new law, regional center termination means that good faith investors in the terminated regional center lose eligibility in 180 days unless (1) the investors NCE manages to switch sponsors and secure affiliation from a different still-authorized regional center (practically a fraught and expensive undertaking) or (2) the investor makes a new investment (yikes). 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. Im overjoyed to report a positive development. May the record of its irresponsible performance come to the attention of USCIS leadership who want reforms, and of Congressional representatives who care about the integrity, reputation, and functionality of EB-5. The visa availability approach can explain about half of these left-behind I-526. But now, USCIS is reaching out with a chance to talk. Jun 30, 2023, 09:15 AM EDT. Think about it: whats the word for soliciting investment with an incentive that might not actually be available? I have also created a new Processing Data page to house trend charts.). Investors originally sponsored by bad actor regional centers may be thankful for a prospect however slim to change sponsors upon USCIS termination. The litigation Behring Regional Center LLC v. Mayorkas et al. (For future reference, Im also adding this engagement to my Meeting Log of USCIS EB-5 engagement reports going back to 2009. That last bullet point is especially urgent and significant. Although we are interested in receiving overall feedback about the EB-5 program, we would appreciate focusing the Q&A portion of the engagement on the topics above. And according to Department of State interpretation, all EB-5 applicants with pre-March 2022 priority dates can only now qualify for a visa in the new 68% unreserved category, regardless of whether they invested in a TEA that matches new definitions. It also strengthens our communities across the country by encouraging foreign direct investment and creating jobs. She also stated that I firmly believe that every applicant who seeks a benefit from USCIS is entitled to a timely decision be it a yes or no. Regarding parallel issues with Department of State and consular processing, see the study Mounting Backlogs Undermine U.S. Immigration System and Impede Biden Policy Changes (February 23, 2022) by the Migration Policy Institute. Ill comment in more detail when USCIS publishes the prepared statements, as promised. (During the RC program lapse, a majority of the reported denied I-526 were actually just withdrawn I-526, but the Q3 denials are largely denials.) Ive carefully assembled below a table highlighting data to help ground thinking about these factors. Apparently applicable on an on-going basis to EB-5 investor funds that must be maintained at risk. (I used to assume that the 7% applied to categories as a whole, not subcategories, but Charles Oppenheim recently set me straight. EB5 Latest News 2023 Visa Bulletin March 2023: Additional Delays for India, Progress in Chinese EB-5 Backlog. Fox News - Breaking News Updates | Latest News Headlines | Photos The EB-5 Policy Manual EB-5 Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 have not been updated yet based on the new law. 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. And stakeholders now have more time to provide input. I considered writing an article about the October 2022 Visa Bulletin, discussing what it means for demand to materialize, as the visa bulletin notes like to say. Apparently applicable to all designated RCs, with no reference to whether it was designated under subparagraph (E) or Section 610 of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1993. INA 203(b)(5)(M) stipulates that I-526 petitions will be denied and even conditional permanent residence status terminated upon regional center termination. May 19, 2023. (I assume that I-526 filings in 2022 didnt grow the queues very much, unless it turns out that most of the 829 receipts last year came from Indians). Who is willing to take the first step toward affecting change identifying and discussing EB-5 processing problems when the problems look discouraging? Unlike H1B visa, EB-5 gives wide flexibility including a green card USCISs answer on the investment period will make the difference between whether Chinese, Indians, and Vietnamese who risk an EB-5 investment today can expect to exit the investment after as little as two years (the artificial sustainment period apparently in the Reform and Integrity Act) or as long as over a decade (the time it could take investors to reach the I-829 stage considering current processing time/volume trends and the visa backlog risk in categories with small per-country visa availability under TEA percentages and country caps). The fee rule process is critical, because it determines over 90 percent of USCIS funding and whether or not USCIS has the resources it needs to provide adequate service. The fee rule process is a major reason why USCIS never has ended up with needed resources or adequate service. MUMBAI: A bunch of foreign investors, several of them Indian citizens, who have sunk at least $500,000 under the EB-5 investor visa program, have filed a lawsuit with a US district court challenging the lapse of the ' Regional Center Program ' and refusal by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services ( USCIS) to process their visas. Among those motivated to care about immigration outcomes, how many will slog through articles like this instead of clinging to hopeful guesses? Today, prospective investors are invited to take the compliance wait and risk. EB-5 visa can help international students save more than $35,000 per year on tuition fees. The Preliminary Injunction on June 24 preliminary enjoined DHS from treating pre-RIA regional centers as deauthorized (finding ambiguity in RIA about RC designation). (To review the new law provisions, see INA 203(b)(5) sections (M) and (S). The only position with any educational qualification was Economist, and even that could satisfy the math component with three semester hours of calculus. Do you believe that someone filing I-526E today gets visa availability based on the dates in todays Visa Bulletin? But at least job postings show wheels in motion. I depend on you to talk USCIS out of its practice of concealing I-526/I-526E filing information. (F)(v) Parameters for Capital Redeployment. 6 Comments. I hope that in the future, we will increasingly see IPO employees and job duties involved with adjudication. I was surprised mainly by the number of Canadians on this years list (why, Canada?) 4 Comments. Department of State has published Annual Numerical Limits for Fiscal Year 2023. (When I redo the calculation using trailing 12-month completions in the denominator rather than just Q3 completions, then the result stays at 7 years for I-829 but increases to 13 years for I-526 and 6 years for I-485. ); 1:08 David Morris (encouragement to engage, focus specific issues, suggest ANPRM); 1:12:13 Rohit Kapuria (does previously-approved RC without immediate new projects need to file both I-956 and I-956G this year? The I-956K instructions warn that if USCIS finds problems with I-956K, penalties can include criminal prosecution for the aspiring promoter plus denial of applications and petitions associated with the regional center, NCE, or JCE associated with that promoter. Surely nothing to do with the number of Indians who filed I-526 in 2018/2019, or our rate of adjudication! As a practical matter, when auditing records on an on-going basis, regional centers should be held to record requirements that existed at the time when their annual reports were filed, and that apply to the petitions they sponsor (with adjudication standards largely following the law at the time of filing). Hot. Congress did not, after all, pass the EAGLE Act or repeal country caps as part of FY2023 appropriations, which means that (for now) EB-5 visa availability remains constrained/protected by caps that limit any one country to 7% of visas in oversubscribed categories. Without country caps, visas within each EB category would simply get issued by priority date, oldest to youngest. (I dont know whether to laugh or cry at this evidence that the USCIS Office of Policy and Strategy was apparently not sweating over statute, regulations, or precedent decisions or its own Policy Manual but just casting about the Internet to find a policy for the EB-5 investment period, but props to EB5 Diligence for catching OPSs eye and earning the footnote citation in the Federal Register notice! What are the Latest Changes to the EB-5 Program? Weve known that annual regional center fees were coming, since Section 103(b)(J) of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) created this new requirement. Its supporters have long touted it as an important economic stimulus tool for economic . The process for I-526 approvals getting transferred to NVC continues to be problematic. 1153(b)(5)(A)(i). Read all our articles here. They will accept our written position paper on these issues in accordance with existing channels of communication and in compliance with Section 107 of the RIA. And its not only investors who want to estimate their investment and immigration horizon at the time of investment issuers and projects and regional centers require this for their planning as well. USCIS finally published minutes from the October 14, 2022 meeting between USCIS and the plaintiffs in the Behring litigation. 2023/24 UEFA Futsal Champions League dates, format One year later, how far have we come? I am encouraged by the 21 alerts that Ive received since August 2022 from USAjobs.gov for job openings at IPO, and to see that new job descriptions include words like achieve efficiency, provide customer service, and respond to inquiries. EB-5 processing times exploded in recent years primarily because IPO has had fewer people working less productively on EB-5 forms. USCIS has not yet started reporting data for the new EB-5 forms (the I-956s or I-526E). As of October 2022, IPO reported 216 employees, of which about 40 were assigned to I-526 and 35 to I-829, while the remaining 65% of EB-5-fee-funded employees bustled about doing things other than adjudicate investor petitions. USCIS has not yet decided whether it will take the position that RIA requirements, such as fund administrators and audits, apply to pre-RIA projects. (I wish that policy could be litigated on behalf of the over 18,000 EB-5 visas lost during the expiration.) The postponement email said We appreciate all the feedback and questions you submitted in advance and are very closely reviewing this helpful information., From: U.S. The experience of existing investors will influence a regional centers ability to attract new investment. USCIS Website Updated Regarding EB-5 Regional Center Program The investment level, which at that time was $500,000, is today at $800,000. We will not address case-specific questions, questions outside the scope of the engagement, or issues under active litigation or likely to be litigated. 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. Please contact the USCIS Press Office at media@uscis.dhs.gov for any media inquiries. It appears that the conflict has not been resolved in EB-5s favor. few direct I-526 filed and even fewer making it through I-526 processing to the visa stage). The EB-5 program is popular in India, mainly because this visa doesn't have the restrictions that other U.S. visas have on where and when you -- as a foreign national -- can work, study live, and travel. It stated only that because Congress repealed Section 610, . July 2023 Visa Bulletin: Overview and Predictions 2. USCIS Adjudication Trends - Invest In the USA The subsequent Q&A session was short on A, but expressed more solicitude and helpful intent than weve heard in a long time. USCIS is evidently still only trying to be itself an agency that grants immigration benefits and hires specifically for experience with applying and enforcing immigration law. IPO is not quite the hospital with 300 busy administrative staff and no doctors or medical service as described in Yes Minister, but its on the spectrum. After examining the picture, you may want to consult this presentation and my data summary for most recent available estimates of the number of applicants hidden in the EB-5 process clouds (not yet on the Visa Control radar, but important for us because determinative for future visa bulletins). IPO ramped down activity overall, and what it did was mainly to RFE and deny petitions with priority dates from before 2015 through late 2019. March 1, 2023 The new law says that a regional center shall file an application with the Secretary of Homeland Security for each particular investment offering through an associated new commercial enterprise before any alien files a petition for classification under this paragraph by reason of investment in that offering. IPO Chief Alissa Emmel declared on July 15 that We are currently accepting immigrant petitions based on previously approved exemplars from regional centers. If IPO thinks that May 2022 was anywhere near back to normal, were in trouble. Who needs to think about what happens after investors file I-526 or I-526E, when most incentives for service providers, projects, and regional centers come before petition filing? Theres no evidence in the job postings that IPO is creating new divisions specific to the new EB-5 forms, or significantly increasing policy staff. Sustainment Period: Paul Egan, Acting Policy Division Chief, indicated his understanding that the Integrity Act modifies the sustainment requirement for new investors who file I-526 after the Integrity Act. 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? See minutes 7, 32, and 1:17:00 of my recording. (I think this interpretation can and ought to be challenged, at at least one lawsuit by DRVC is challenging it, but its the fact for now.).
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