EB-5 Daily’s Percentage of Views from Top 21 Countries

Take a look at where in the world EB-5 Daily’s visitors came from over the years. See the percentage of views from the top 21 countries for 2018, 2019 and 2020 (so far).

The data will include the percentage of visitor views from the USA as well as the 20 top foreign countries.

One issue to address: Visitors may not be citizens or even residents of the countries they’re currently listed as coming from on our views. This is a particular issue with our views from the US. There may be many visitors currently in the US on tourist, business, employment and student visas. Despite this issue, the data, I think, still reveals some interesting insights and trends.

EB-5 Daily Percentage (%) of Views by Country for 2018, 2019 and 2020:

Viewership over the years:

The United States has been about 50% of viewership over the years. India and Vietnam have also continued to take the second and third top spot respectively. These top three countries make up about 70% of the total viewership. The next top 18 countries have changed over the years. For example, South Korea quadrupled in views and Saudi Arabia more than doubled in views between 2018 to 2020.

How Might the Upcoming EB-5 Program Changes Affect Potential EB-5 Investors from These Countries?

What major EB-5 change is set to go into effect soon?

USCIS set to implement a new processing approach for the I-526 Petition. They will no longer process I-526 Petitions on a first-in, first-out basis, but on a visa availability approach. Only petitions from applicants whose country of origin has visas available, or soon to be available, will proceed in the process and have their petitions approved (or denied).

Effect on visa backlogged countries:

Backlogged visa countries such as China may have to wait even longer to have their I-526 petitions processed. This change in processing will go into effect on March 31 , 2020. How long it will last for is still unknown. It’s unclear what other countries will also suffer from this change. Will India and Vietnam be included? Will it include South Korea, Taiwan and Brazil? We may see answers to these questions at the stakeholder’s meeting USCIS will hold in March.

Any good news for visa backlogged countries?

Investors from backlogged countries who are worried that their children may age out of the EB-5 Program may find a little relief in the protection offered by the delayed adjudication until a visa becomes available.

Who benefits from the EB-5 processing change?

Underrepresented EB-5 countries (those without any visa backlog or predicted visa backlog) may stand to benefit greatly from the change. Their I-526 petitions will be sent to the top of the pile for processing. They may see faster EB-5 form I-526 approvals.

Will we see new EB-5 markets emerge or grow?

EB-5 Daily saw visitors from 189 countries in 2019. In the last few years, the EB-5 Program has become more well-known across the world. In FY 2014, China made up 90% of the EB-5 visa usage. In FY 2018, about 100 countries/territories (other than Mainland China) invested in the EB-5 Program, making up about 52% of the visa usage.

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