Month: February 2021

EB-5 Progress During the Pandemic

Wednesday, May 27, 2020 U.S. Government has been busy considering how to use immigration policy as a tool to mitigate COVID-19 crisis. Up till now, EB-5 program has not been harmed, except some threats, such as Senator Grassley sent a letter to the president suggesting to extend the current immigration crackdown amid coronavirus to include… Read more »

USCIS at time of Coronavirus 2019

Monday, March 30, 2020 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) temporarily suspended in-person services at its field locations to help slow the spread of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). USCIS offices are scheduled to reopen on April 7 unless the public closures are extended further. Despite these locations are closed, USCIS staff are continuing to perform duties… Read more »

To Be Documentarily Qualified

Thursday, February 27, 2020 On the March visa bulletin, the China Final Action date for employment-based fifth preference just jumped five months to December 15, 2015. This rapid advancement not because lack of Chinese with approved I-526, but simply because fewer Chinese eligible to be called for a visa interview. The March visa bulletin inserted… Read more »

USCIS Adjusts EB-5 Visa Petition Adjudication Process

Wednesday, January 29, 2020 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service officially announced today a process change for Form I-526, Immigration Petition by Alien Investor, from a first-in, first out basis to a visa availability approach. According to USCIS, this new approach parallels with other visa-availability agency adjudications processes, is more consistent with congressional intent for the… Read more »

Regional Center Program Reauthroized until September 30, 2020

Friday, December 20, 2019 On December 19, Congress passed a FY2020 spending bill H.R. 1865, which funds the federal government and extends the EB-5 Regional Center Program through September 30, 2020. This bill has been sent to President Trump, which he is expected to sign. This new extension provides a 9-month window for industry stakeholders… Read more »

Senator Durbin and Leahy Introduced New Bill to Eliminate Immigration Visa Backlog

Tuesday, October 29, 2019 On Oct. 16, Senators Dick Durbin and Patrick Leahy introduced the Resolving Extended Limbo for Immigrant Employees and Families (RELIEF) Act, which is an alternative to the Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act ( S. 386) proposed by Senator Mike Lee. According to Senator Durbin, the new RELIEF Act would: •… Read more »

EB-5 Regional Center Program Extension and New Bill to Reform

Monday, September 30, 2019 On Friday September 27, 2019, President Donald Trump signed short-term spending bill H.R. 4378, which is a continuing resolution bill that prevent another government shutdown and keeps the government funded until Nov. 21. The EB-5 Regional Center program as part of the bill has been authorized through November 21, 2019. On… Read more »

Approaching Next Regional Center Program Sunset Date

Wednesday, August 28, 2019 The next EB-5 Regional Center Program sunset date is September 30, 2019. The industry experts widely believed that the EB-5 Regional Center Program will be included in the Congressional appropriations bills and will be passed without reform. However, it will come up again for reauthorization in few months, when the next… Read more »

EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Published in Federal Register

Thursday, Jul 25, 2019 The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program Modernization Regulation (RIN 1615-AC07) is published on July 24, 2019 in the Federal Register. This final rule is in effective on November 21, 2019, 120 days from the date of publishing in Federal Register. This final rule has increased standard minimum investment amounts from $1,000,000 to… Read more »

EB-5 Visa Availability Updates and Prediction

Friday, May 24, 2019 On May 6, 2019, Chief of the Visa Controls Office at the US Department of State, Charlie Oppenheim, appeared at IIUSA EB-5 Advocacy Conference in Washington DC as keynote presenter. During his presentation, Mr. Oppenheim shared some of the firsthand data on EB-5 visa in FY2019, also provided predictions on the… Read more »