eb5 latest news today

The year ahead for the United States EB-5 Investment - Gulf News They describe activities that the organization plans to undertake, reflect priorities, and provide insight into internal processes. Ive been waiting anxiously for the report, wondering about visa wastage, Integrity Act implementation, and impacts on the visa backlog and EB-5 visa wait times for China, India, and Vietnam. Tsa Weatherl, Division Chief for Form I-829 Division, Discussed I-829 team staffing, workflow, excuses for low completion rates, filing tips, Amanda Atkinson moderating the Q&A session, Questions: 53:44 Carolyn Lee (encouragement to engage, focus specific issues); 58:53 Mona Shah (problems with I-829 extensions, and DOS not recognizing extensions); 1:00:00 Dan Lundy (what is the sustainment period post-RIA and pre-RIA? 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. (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. The EB-5 Situation: No News Is Good News - CIS.org However, I appreciate that USCIS put all of IPO leadership on-stage to speak to us, and the level of detail shared. With such limited availability, why might that prospective investor want to know how many Chinese have already filed I-526 for rural projects, whether 80 or 800? Q3 completion rates for I-526, I-829, and I-485 were all much higher than the previous quarter (an encouraging trend), and still very low in context of historical performance and the backlog (a notable fact). Family-Based Final Action Dates Chart 3. With the qualification that USCIS adjudicators retain discretion to evaluate the Integrity Fund fee due and the number of investors on a case-by-case basis, accounting for any other facts or evidence in the record in the totality of the circumstances, including any evidence provided by a regional center that believes it has greater or fewer total investors.. (During the RC program lapse, a majority of the reported denied I-526 were actually just withdrawn I-526, but the Q3 denials are largely denials.) We need to keep pressing USCIS to increase processing volume going forward, to avoid that unacceptable result. EB-5 processing volumes have yet to recover from the regional center program shutdown or the new law (not to mention the 2019 Reset Training at IPO), but I keep watching and hoping. Five of the advertised positions are primarily occupied with records management. USCIS to Start Collecting Fee for EB-5 Integrity Fund. The Department of State has finished publishing its Report of the Visa Office 2022. 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. Annual Report: Although the USCIS website I-956G instructions say that regional centers approved after May 14, 2022 may file the I-956G annual report, the Investor Program Office gave different instructions in the call. If USCIS starts to terminate regional centers for no fault except declining to raise new funds under RIA, the result will be loss of eligibility among EB-5 investors due to RIA an outcome that RIA sought to avoid in principle with Section 108 Protection from Expired Legislation. Not applicable. 35 Comments. [Update, 3/11/22: Both the the Senate (yesterday) and The House of Representatives (on March 9 ) passed a continuing resolution on appropriations including the EB-5 revival and reform provisions. 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. The EB-5 Policy Manual EB-5 Chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 have not been updated yet based on the new law. Thanks to the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, we now have until September 30, 2027 to panic about legislation to reauthorize the regional center program. In recent statements, webinars, and reports on processing conditions across USCIS, I hear principled commitment to improve more than practical hope for broad-based change any time soon. Q3 saw over a thousand I-485 receipts at California Service Center, but only a few dozen I-526 receipts. No wonder weve ended up in such a mess of frustration, hostility, and litigation. In Volume 6 Part G Investors, which contains EB-5 program guidance, USCIS updated Chapters 1 and 2 but not Chapters 3, 4, 5, or 6. For news on all USCIS programs and services, visit the Newsroom. But even with the most optimistic assumptions on future visa availability, Chinese who filed I-526 from October 2016-March 2022 and Indians who filed I-526 from November 2019-March 2022 could face five or more years of waiting just for conditional permanent residence. This webinar is not for press purposes. USCIS finally published minutes from the October 14, 2022 meeting between USCIS and the plaintiffs in the Behring litigation. This complicates time estimates for individual cases. When one collects fees for a service, spends the fees, and then does not deliver the service or even allocate resources to provide the service, thats generally called fraud. But USCIS has directed adjudicators to request it at the RFE stage, and to deny direct I-526 for lack of source-of-funds documentation for non-EB-5 investors. As clarified by the Settlement Agreement in the Behring litigation, the requirement to apply for regional center designation with I-956 is specifically for the purposes of sponsoring new projects and new investors under the Integrity Act.. At best, this lack might mean that USCIS has already reallocated existing experienced staff to handle new RIA tasks. 29, 2022, is no longer the deadline to file Form I-956, Application for Regional Center Designation, amendments, as required by the Behring Settlement, and Form I-956G, Regional Center Annual Statement. Ive noted no significant new content on the USCIS website EB-5 pages. I start with a focus on I-526 approvals, since thats what drives the EB-5 process. These positions might be needless if only IPO had halfway decent IT and database systems, but expensive humans are better than nothing. How long must you keep EB-5 capital at risk? USCIS published form receipt and processing data for FY2022 Q4 (July to September 2022), and I also received data unofficially for EB-5 adjudications in October to December 2022. The only position with any educational qualification was Economist, and even that could satisfy the math component with three semester hours of calculus. Thank you for putting yourself out to be faced with challenges like these. At that time, Oppenheim estimated the EB-5 backlog (including applicants already registered at NVC and potential future applicants associated with I-526 pending at USCIS) at 57,253 visa applicants for China, 7,418 for India, 3,954 for Vietnam, and 18,054 for other countries (see Slide 10). Immigrant visas are authorized under the Regional Center Program through Sept. 30, 2027. A decrepit blot on a bustling area, abandoned Miami tower may finally be revived. (The comment deadline is 4 ET today.) Had the agency considered the question, balanced the competing interests at stake, and arrived at a decision on the continued status of existing regional centers, perhaps the agency could successfully defend its action. F. RETROGRESSION IN THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED FIFTH PREFERENCE (EB-5) FOR INDIA. IIUSA Blog - Invest In the USA Jun 30, 2023, 09:15 AM EDT. The Policy Alert does not acknowledge that Volume 6 Part G is now a confusing mix of half updated and half outdated content, but I trust that USCIS realizes the fact and is still at work to finish the job. ), April 25, 2023 . EB-5 News May 30, 2023 GAO report summary, part 2: EB-5 fraud and national security concerns Filter Processing times Global Markets 1 Min Read Chinese EB-5 activity may be at a five-year peak thanks to the end of lockdowns and the Reform Act Processing Times 6 Min Read Communication between USCIS and the EB-5 world started to break down with the end of quarterly meetings in 2018. ); 1:25 Michele Franchett (encouragement to engage, question about application of audit exemption to fund administration requirement), Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions, I-485 at the California Service Center (WSC), Number of I-526 completed in the quarter ended March 31, Average I-526 completions per working day in the quarter ended March 31, Approximate number of IPO employees as of March, Number of employees gained or lost by IPO during the previous 2-year period, Number of IPO employees assigned to I-526, F. USCIS reports in stakeholder meeting notes, Congressional testimony, and/or litigation declarations, Percent of IPO employees assigned to I-526 adjudication, Percent change to IPOs number of adjudicators assigned to I-526 2018-2022, Average I-526 completions per I-526 adjudicator in the quarter ended March 31, Percent change to IPOs productivity per I-526 adjudicator 2018-2022, Estimated time (months) to process all I-526 pending as of March 31, assuming that the rate of completion from the most recent quarter continues going forward, Median processing time (months) of I-526 completions in this fiscal year, Approximate number of I-526 pending as of March from China-born petitioners, M. Estimated from USCIS report for 10/2018; DOS report for 11/2021, Approximate number of pending I-526 with visas available, Number of I-526 expedite requests granted by USCIS, O. USCIS report in declaration for litigation, Theoretical hours of Touch time per I-526 reported by USCIS and used by DHS as a basis to budget for needed I-526 fee revenue, Actual touch time hours per I-526 adjudication calculated from completions per I-526 adjudicator in the quarter ended March 31, I-526 filing fees associated with pending I-526 ($ millions), Percent of I-526 decisions in the quarter ended March 31 that were denials or withdrawals (not approvals), USCIS is revising Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, to accommodate the, Revision of Form I-526 We have released a revised version of Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, splitting it into two versions to accommodate the. . I would love to see the U.S. government supply EB-5 visa numbers sufficient to reward the investment-fueled U.S. job creation that already occurred based on the promise of such visas. 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. The graphic illustrates that, from new project starts to project completions, loan repayment, jobs creation, school openings and student enrollment, even in a challenging year, GreenAccess' project quality and process efficiency deliver safely and predictably. And heres the Settlement Agreement. On March 15, 2022, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) became law as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Public Law No: 117-103). But who counts as investors in the preceding fiscal year for the purpose of fee calculation? 18 Comments. With country caps, on the other hand, new petitioners from some countries other than China and India might be advised to invest outside a TEA to qualify for an unreserved visa, since 7% of 68% is a lot more visas available than 7% of 20%, 7% of 10%, or 7% of 2%. Perhaps, after engaging in a reasoned decisionmaking process and considering the competing policy factors, the agency could conclude that Behring and the other previously authorized regional centers can no longer operate until they have successfully reapplied by submitting new I-956 petitions. I have requested this so many times from USCIS, but I know your name and your face now, Kevin Muck, and the size of your salary, and I appeal to you personally. Meanwhile, billions of dollars are flowing in real time under sponsorship of entities and from investors who arent sure what eligibility requirements do or will apply to them. Accordingly, USCIS is preliminarily enjoined from treating as deauthorized the previously designated regional centers based on its almost certainly erroneous interpretation of the Integrity Act. I have also created a new Processing Data page to house trend charts.). Practically, this means that shepherd regional centers should continue to report on their management of EB-5 investment and be subject to penalties for reasons related to fund management, but should not have to file I-956 and I-956F, or to complete the portions of I-956G that are indexed to I-956 and I-956F and to requirements specific to capital raising activities. New job postings likewise offer plenty of non-adjudicative work. Everyone involved in the huge fight over defining the investment period (on the regional center side and investor side) will be interested in this paragraph from the Federal Register analysis: USCIS considered generally counting only the Forms I-526 that were filed within two years of the applicable period used for determining the EB-5 Integrity Fund fee given the expected two-year minimum timeframe for the investment, or sustainment period, under the 2022 Act. Checkout our latest reviews and testimonials from customers. People are welcome to use this blog comment section as a forum for sharing experience and asking questions, but note that larger and better arranged EB-5 groups are also available, including https://goaiia.org/, https://t.me/EB5VisaGroup, https://t.me/+NWEYhY6y81AzYzIx, and https://t.me/+N0K7TuzrPYQwMDJl Email suzanne@lucidtext.com if you know of other groups that I should mention, or if you need help joining a group. I will shortly publish a separate post and new pages with the updates Ive been collecting on I-526 and I-829 processing, adjustment of status, consular processing, the backlog and visa availability, and processing conditions generally. Participation in this engagement will be virtual. USCIS explained that todays publications will be the only notice, and that USCIS will not individually notify or send invoices to regional centers.) As readers were informed was possible in Item F of the May 2023 Visa Bulletin, it has become necessary to retrogress the EB-5 final action date for India effective in June. For example, USCIS finally issued a receipt notice on August 11 for an I-956F that it received from CMB on July 1. Fortunately, USCIS also leaks. We can see what happened when the regional center expiration as of July 2021 left USCIS to focus on the direct EB-5 I-526 inventory. Petitioners have fought to become exceptions to the dreadful processing average by means of expedite requests and Mandamus litigation. IPO has over 13,000 I-526 pending today, and has not processed more than 400 I-526 a month since 2018, and not more than 200 I-526 per month since July 2021. 2. Over the past year, I-829 processing has generally clustered around petitions filed in 2019, but also included many I-829 filed in 2017 and 2018, and a few filed as early as 2015 and as late as 2021. Read More IIUSA Data Report: Form I-829 Statistics for Q1 Fiscal Year 2023 06.22.23 IPO has not explained why it has assigned only 15% of its employees to adjudicate the Form that accounts for more than 50% of its fee-paid workload, or whether that allocation decision is open to change. 4 Comments. Many jobs were posted as open exclusively to current USCIS employees, and all (except the secretaries) were limited to current or former federal employees, with some flexibility for veterans, military spouses, and Peace Corps. U.S. EB5 Latest News 2023 Visa Bulletin March 2023: Additional Delays for Announcement on Resumption of Processing of EB-5 Visas - Travel Close. But the risky, uncertain prospect is hardly solace or protection for investors who already have a good sponsor responsibly managing their investment. This challenge increases with room for interpretation in new EB-5 law. Perhaps the agency could conclude that the centers must reapply but can operate consistent with the requirements of the Integrity Act pending their new applications. (607) 200-3758. Were partway there, and with so much scope for improvement going forward. 45 Comments. Today, $49 million of spilt I-526 filing fees call from the ground, asking why the United States government has assigned only 26 I-526 adjudicators to handle an inventory of over 13,000 pending investor petitions, offers excuses rather than improvement plans for falling IPO adjudicator productivity, and manages I-526 inventory by defining a large percentage of the inventory as ineligible for processing (via the visa availability approach). May 18, 2023. Litigators, is there anything we can do about systemic adjudication problems behind mass denials, or do petitioners really just have to fight battles individually in the sluggish AAO process? Witness how conditions have deteriorated since 2018, back when we thought two-year I-526 processing times were long. 10/25 Update: USCIS has now published EB-5 National Stakeholder Engagement Talking Points (PDF, 238.48 KB) and National Engagement EB-5 Stakeholder PowerPoint Presentation (PDF, 315.88 KB). May 19, 2023. Amanda Atkinson USCIS Office of Citizenship, Partnership, and Engagement, RIA implementation updates (Behring Settlement content, RCs that dont file I-956 by December 29, RC fees), Staffing update (total employment level, discussion of duties and priorities, excuses for lack of resources assigned to adjudication, general statement on hiring plans), Digitization Initiative Update (current initiative to scan I-829 files, indefinite future hopes for ELIS), Discussed IPO operations and divisional responsibilities. The annual SelectUSA conference began today, May 3, bringing together . Once we process your registration, you will receive a confirmation email with additional details. The orders content has been misrepresented in the PR Ive seen about it so far, so caution is needed. These forms have material that RIA unambiguously requires USCIS to collect and review for all regional centers, including those designated prior to RIA, and RCs should benefit from getting that submission and review done as soon as possible. contact@carolynleepllc.com. In the meantime, here is a link to my recording of the 10/19 EB-5 Stakeholder Engagement, and an index to recording content. Considering the factors summarized above, an individual I-526 or I-526E filed today may avoid an unthinkably long processing time if (1) IPO dramatically increases the amount and productivity of I-526 adjudication resources and/or (2) IPO implements exceptions to the nominally First-Come-First-Served order that benefit that particular I-526, or (3) that particular I-526 or a massive number of other petitioners give up and drop out of the process. The cap limits any one country to 7% of visas within that category until other countries demand under the 7% limit has been satisfied. Russian Gen. Sergey Surovikin was secret VIP member of Wagner But at least job postings show wheels in motion. In EB-5, the 7% cap applies independently within each reserve and unreserve visa class, not just to the EB-5 limit as a whole.). Surely its not possible to be that clueless and incompetent? None asked for experience with business or investment. 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). This shapes my expectations for improvement EB-5 processing a small part of the total immigration system. As a supervisor looking at these charts, I would question IPO management about its disordered process as well as about its low productivity. And the new EB-5 law encourages special priority for new I-526 associated with rural projects. For color on why the steps in consular processing remain so slow and problematic, see questions and answers in the Department of State/AILA Liaison Committee Meeting February 9, 2023, the NVC Immigrant Visa Backlog report (look at trends in the number of interview appointments, and compare appointment volume with backlog size), and the October 2022 Update on Worldwide Visa Operations. USCIS will accept input on the issue of whether the I-956G filing requirement should be deferred to December 2023 based on input from Stakeholders that much of the information is duplicative with the I-956 being filed in December 2022. The large number of denials reflects attitudes at the Investor Program Office, particularly toward direct EB-5 cases, and particularly since the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act protected USCIS from judicial review of unjust EB-5 decisions. Adjudications will be based on transparent standards, and will have a predictable timeline. The Federal Register notice states that USCIS is imposing this fee without soliciting public comment prior because this is a general statement of policy and an interpretive rule exempt from notice and comment procedures. The notice claims that The statutory provision that requires the $20,000 and $10,000 fees contains little ambiguity for USCIS to resolve or explain. (And this, after the notice grappled with ambiguities around the investor count and overlooked the major ambiguity of regional center applicability.) The EB-5 Regional Center program, which allows investors to take advantage of the immigration benefits with a passive investment, lapsed on June 30, 2021 and has remained suspended for the past. 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. 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? USCIS has published six new forms that will need to be revised eventually in response to litigation and to correct errors and omissions: Form I-956 Application for Regional Center Designation, Form I-956H Bona Fides of Persons Involved with Regional Center Program, Form I-956F Application for Approval of an Investment in a New Commercial Enterprise, Form I-956G Regional Center Annual Statement, Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, and Form I-526E Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor. The Federal Register has re-opened opportunity to comment on the new regional center forms I-956, I-956F, I-956G, and I-956K. In theory, country caps further restrict availability within each category. What a good sign! Join US Immigration Fund and DM Consultants for a free seminar on the EB-5 Visa Programme. Congress About to Pass a Reformed Version of EB-5 Re-authorization ); 1:17 Jesse Rios Lone Star Regional Center (which RCs need to file I-956G? IPO is hiring! Hmmm, Was this different treatment of Indians and Vietnamese an oversight, with the government remembering the unreserved limit in the new law for Vietnam while forgetting it for India? EB-5 Industry Prepares for a Restart Amid New Rules 7 Comments. The newly-staffed IPO promises no more real world experience and no more legal or financial expertise than it has today. I will not waste time transcribing information that USCIS apparently does not consider reliable enough to record or publish themselves. 3. The Regional Center operations questions are less divisive among EB-5 stakeholders, but a huge open question with USCIS. 6 Comments. Apparently applicable to regional centers with an on-going status as sponsor of investor petitions. Air Duct Cleaning in St. Louis Heres a gauntlet. Not applicable to regional centers that already deposited and deployed investor funds to capital investment projects prior to RIA, and are not raising any new funds to be deposited or deployed. What can we expect next from the Office of Policy and Strategy? Ive noted that about two years has long been a favorite guess to answer the question How long does I-526 take? Actual estimates are tough, and the two-year guess looks relatively tolerable (still longer than I-526 should take, but about the outside limit of how long most EB-5 project developers and investors can imagine waiting in limbo).

Achieve3000 Teacher Sign Up, Rock Bands From Virginia, Naples Beach Club Condos For Sale, Does The Wine Wand Really Work, Mls Expansion Sacramento, Articles E