The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa offers a solution for high net-worth individuals to permanently immigrate to the United States. The program has no language or education requirements, and more importantly, does not require any family ties for sponsorship. Provided the foreign national has the requisite funds for the investment, he or she has an opportunity to obtain a green card.
Gone are the glory days of EB-5 when I-526 Petitions were approved in 2-5 months. The past few years have seen a steady increase in processing times of EB-5 Petitions. It’s not uncommon to hear of investors waiting over 12 months for their approval. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. USCIS has recognized that processing times over a year are unreasonable, and have taken steps to remedy the situation.
The processing of I-526 Petitions are becoming more streamlined with the recent move of EB-5 adjudication from California to Washington, DC. USCIS recently advertised on the government jobs website, usajobs.gov for multiple EB-5 Adjudicator position openings. The posting deadline closed April 16, and USCIS should begin vetting candidates shortly.
What does this all mean for EB-5 Investors? The good news is that processing times are decreasing. With USCIS hiring multiple adjudicators for the program, we should begin to see the processing times drop. Less than a month ago, uscis.gov listed EB-5 processing at around 13 months. Today, the times have already dropped to 11 months. Although this is a small start, we should expect faster processing in the near future.
