USCIS has released its 3rd quarter (April through June 2018) EB-5 I-526 Petition processing data and what it reveals is a huge shift in who is applying for the program.

The EB-5 Program was created in 1990 for the purpose of stimulating the US economy through job creation from foreign capital. The EB-5 Program gives foreign entrepreneurs and their immediate family members green cards in exchange for investing $1 million, or more typically, $500,000, into US job-creating new commercial enterprises.

For many years the EB-5 Program has been dominated by investors from Mainland China, but do to visa quota limits on countries, a backlog has caused the wait time for Chinese investors to exceed 14 years. As a result, many potential Chinese investors have taken notice and declined to pursue immigration through EB-5.

Additionally, EB-5 regional centers and developers have shifted their focus to marketing their EB-5 projects to other countries where there are little to no wait times. For example, a huge push to market to investors from Brazil has occurred. The current wait time for Brazilian EB-5 investors is roughly only 1.5 years.

USCIS’s 3rd quarter I-526 petition data saw a major drop in the number of petitions filed. Only 617 petitions were filed between April and June 2018. In comparison in Q2, 1,607 petitions were filed and in Q3, 2,862 petitions were filed.

The 4th quarter may see an increase in petitions filed simply because the September sunset date typically causes a spike in form I-526’s filed, but it’s still likely that this year will see a major drop overall in the number of new petitions filed.

Some investors from Mainland China may see the drop in petitions filed as an opportunity to invest and get closer to the front of the line. The number of petitions being processed by USCIS has increased, which is good news for all investors.

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