Updated: USCIS Stakeholder Event To Discuss EB-5 Visa Availability Approach

Updates from the USCIS EB-5 Stakeholder Engagement on Friday, March 13, 2020, at 11am (EST):

Speakers: Sarah Kendall, Chief of the Immigrant Investor Program Office and Charles Oppenehim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division from the Department of State

Topics: To discuss the change from the first-in, first-out process for the I-526 Petition to the visa availability approach as well as to touch on the EB-5 Modernization Regulation and finally an open question an answer session.

Highlights (Most of the interesting information came from the question and answer section of the engagement):

-Stated benefits of the change to the EB-5 Program I-526 Petition visa availability approach included to better align with congressional intent for visa allocation and to better align EB-5 processing with other visa types.

-No changes will be made to the EB-5 expedite process.

-China will be the country most impacted by the new processing change. (Chart B of the Visa Bulletin, Dates for Filing will be used)

-India is expected to be current by the summer and is expected to stay current for the foreseeable future, pending larger volumes of petitions.

-Despite increase in staff at the Immigrant Investor Program Office (now there is 240 dedicated personnel), Sarah Kendall acknowledged concerns regarding the rates and efficiency of processing times, and basically attributed it to heightened integrity measures.

-Due to the closure of the Chinese consulate, Vietnamese investors may receive any unused visas. India is expected to become current before they would be able to utilize unused numbers.

-Sarah Kendall and Charles Oppenheim would not answer questions related to Nigeria and other travel ban countries and requested individuals to send questions to USCIS by email.

new -An FAQ for the Visa Availability Approach processing change teleconference has been added to USCIS. See the resource here.

-There is now an FAQ page on USCIS for the EB-5 Modernization Regulation here.

Just Released: EB-5 Visa Bulletin for April 2020

Original Post:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is holding a public engagement on Friday, March 13, from 11am – 12pm (EST) to speak about the EB-5 Program’s upcoming processing change to a visa availability approach.

The public is invited to participate in the USCIS stakeholder meeting and ask questions about the updates to the program, focusing on the shift from using the first-in, first-out approach to processing the I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Investor to the visa availability approach.

The USCIS stakeholder engagement will be held via teleconference only.

How to join the event and listen in or ask questions from USCIS website:

To join the event via teleconference:
Call in Toll Free number: 888-946-7792
Toll number for international callers: 517-308-9375
Participant Passcode: 3996336

We recommend calling in 10 to 15 minutes before the teleconference begins.

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Clare Lithgow