• Home
  • About Us
    • Stacy E. Cozart Martin
    • Michael M. Jolic
    • Scott Bratton
    • Staff
  • Services
    • Non-Immigrant Visas
      • E-1/E-2 Visas
      • H-1B Visas
      • H-1B visas for Physicians
      • H-2B Visas
      • J-1 Visa Waivers
      • L-1A and L-1B Non-immigrant Visas
      • O-1 Visa
      • The TN for Professionals
    • Immigrant Visas
      • EB-11 Alien of Extraordinary Ability
      • EB-12 Outstanding Professors or Researchers
      • Multi-National Executive or Manager Category
      • Immigrant Investors/Employment Creation Visas
      • Immigration Issues for Physicians
      • National Interest Waivers (NIW)
      • National Interest Waiver for Physicians Working in Medically Underserved Areas
      • Permanent Residency based on Labor Certification (PERM)
      • I-9 Services
    • Asylum, Deportation, Removal and Crimmigration
      • Asylum
      • Removal Proceedings
      • Crimmigration
      • Bond
      • Appeals – Board of Immigration Appeals
      • Federal Appeals
      • Federal Litigation in District Courts
      • I-601A/I-212
      • Motion to Reopen
  • Consultation
  • News
  • Contact

Mobile Menu

Schedule A Consultation Now!

Give us a call to speak with an immigration attorney.

(216) 328-9878

  • Menu
  • Skip to left header navigation
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

Speak with an Immigration Attorney  (216) 328-9878

MJB Immigration

Immigration Attorneys

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
    • Non-Immigrant Visas
      • E-1/E-2 Visas
      • H-1B Visas
      • H-1B Visas for Physicians
      • H-2B Visas
      • J-1 Visa Waivers
      • L-1A and L-1B Visas
      • O-1 Visas
      • The TN for Professionals
    • Immigrant Visas
      • EB-11 Visas
      • EB-12 Visas
      • Multi-National Executive or Manager Category
      • Immigrant Investors/Employment Creation Visas
      • Immigration Issues for Physicians
      • National Interest Waivers (NIW)
      • National Interest Waiver for Physicians Working in Medically Underserved Areas
      • Permanent Residency based on Labor Certification (PERM)
      • I-9 Services
    • Asylum, Deportation, Removal and Crimmigration
      • Asylum
      • Removal Proceedings
      • Crimmigration
      • Bond
      • Appeals – Board of Immigration Appeals
      • Federal Appeals
      • Federal Litigation in District Courts
      • I-601A/I-212
      • Motion to Reopen
  • Consultation
  • News
  • Contact

Article: Winners and Losers from USCIS’ New Process for Managing EB-5 Visa Petition Inventory By Joseph Barnett

January 31, 2020

<div itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Article”>
<h3 itemprop=”name”>
<!–ARTICLE TITLE START–>
Winners and Losers from USCIS’ New Process for Managing EB-5 Visa Petition Inventory<!–END ARTICLE TITLE–>
</h3><h4><i>by <a href=”http://discuss.ilw.com/articles/articles/392815-article-winners-and-losers-from-uscis%E2%80%99-new-process-for-managing-eb-5-visa-petition-inventory-by-joseph-barnett#bio”>
<span itemprop=”author” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Person”>
<span itemprop=”name”>
<!–AUTHOR NAME START–>
Joseph Barnett
<!–END AUTHOR NAME–>
</span></span>
</a></i></h4><br/>

<div class=”fusion-text”><h3></h3>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”>On January 29, 2020, USCIS announced a process change for Form I-526 applications to a “visa availability approach”.&nbsp; USCIS wrote to stakeholders this morning:</span></p>
<blockquote>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”>The new visa availability approach simply gives priority to petitions where visas are immediately available, or soon available, and will not create legally binding rights or change substantive requirements. Applicants from countries where visas are immediately available will now be better able to use their annual per-country allocation of EB-5 visas. The new visa availability approach will apply to petitions pending as of the effective date of the change. USCIS will implement the visa availability approach on March 31, 2020.</span></p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”>USCIS will hold a public engagement on March 13, 2020 to provide information and answer questions from the public about this operational change, a variation that Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP Managing Partner Bernard Wolfsdorf has raised in prior EB-5 stakeholder engagements and at national EB-5 conferences.&nbsp; Here are the winners and losers from this new policy:&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”><strong>Winner – Rest of World (ROW) Investors with Pending Form I-526s</strong>:&nbsp; The biggest winner appears to be EB-5 investors not born in mainland China, Vietnam, or India whose pending I-526 application may be approved quicker than before.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”><strong>Winner – Backlogged Country Cases With Aging-Out Children</strong>:&nbsp; This is good news for parents whose children would potentially otherwise “age out” and not be able to immigrate with the rest of the family.&nbsp; Under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), a child’s CSPA age is calculated by subtracting the number of days that the Form I-526 was pending with USCIS (from date of receipt to date of approval, including any period of administrative review) from the actual age of the applicant on the date that the visa became available.&nbsp; The time waiting for a priority date to become current is not taken into account.&nbsp; So, longer I-526 processing times can assist those stuck in a visa waiting line from “aging out”.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”><strong>Loser – Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indian Investors Stuck in the Backlog:&nbsp; </strong>Despite the potential benefit to their children, this must be gut-wrenching.&nbsp; Not only will there be a separate track for those in backlogged countries to get their I-526s approved, but their investments will need to remain “at risk” for a longer period too, which subjects them to even further risks related to redeployment and material change.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”><strong>Loser – Those in Troubled Projects who cannot Benefit from Priority Date Retention Protection</strong>:&nbsp; The new EB-5 regulations allow, in some circumstances, an EB-5 investor with an approved I-526 to file a new EB-5 petition and retain the earlier application’s priority date.&nbsp; The delay of a I-526 approval means fewer options for investors who invested in mismanaged projects, or subject to fraud or Regional Center terminations.</span></p>
<p><span style=”color: #000000;”><strong>Loser – USCIS</strong>:&nbsp; Based on our firm’s experience, I-526 applications are not always adjudicated on a first-in, first-out basis, as today’s notice claims.&nbsp; Rather, USCIS would decide applications through various adjudications teams for consistency, based on whether an EB-5 project had an exemplar approval, though <span style=”color: #0000ff;”><a style=”color: #0000ff;” href=”https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Reports%20and%20Studies/Immigration%20Forms%20Data/Employment-based/I526_performancedata_fy2019_qtr4.pdf”>current statistics</a></span> show the Immigrant Investor Program Office isn’t processing much of anything these days.&nbsp;</span></p>
</div>

<p>This post originally appeared on <a href=”https://wolfsdorf.com/blog/2020/01/29/winners-and-losers-from-uscis-new-process-for-managing-eb-5-visa-petition-inventory/” target=”_blank”>Wolfsdorf Rosenthal</a>. Reprinted with permission.</p>
</span>
<hr/><h4>

<a name=”bio”></a>
About The Author<br/>
</h4>

<!–AUTHOR BIO START–>

<p>
<b>Joseph Barnett</b>is a partner at Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP and specializes in employment and business immigration cases, including immigrant petitions and non-immigrant visa applications for foreign entrepreneurs and investors, management personnel of international companies, individuals with EB-1 extraordinary ability, EB-2 national interest waiver, and alien workers. She also handles complex immigration cases such as protecting age-out derivative children under CSPA, mandamus litigation, consular inadmissibility, as well as preparing responses to Requests for Evidence, Notices of Intent to Deny, and Notices of Intent to Revoke.

</p>
<!–END AUTHOR BIO–>

<p><hr/>
<div class=”ilwFinePrint”>The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the opinion of <span itemprop=”publisher” itemscope itemtype=”http://schema.org/Organization”>
<span itemprop=”name”>ILW.COM</span></span>.</div></p>
</div>
{$inline_image

Filed Under: Uncategorised

You May Also Be Interested In:

Legal Alert Title

May 11 – Permanent Residency, House Bill

Article: Obtaining I-551 Stamp as Evidence of Conditional Lawful Permanent Residency during COVID-19 By Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP

Article: Stuck Abroad And Unable To Return To The U.S. Within 180 Days? By David H. Nachman, Esq., Michael Phulwani, Esq. and Ludka Zimovcak, Esq.

May 8 – Travel Restrictions, COVID-19

May 7 – Top Articles And News For April 2020

Article: Recommendations for U.S.C.I.S. Reopening Offices during Covid-19 By Alan Lee, Esq.

Article: COVID-19 Exacerbates Form I-829 Processing Pain for EB-5 Investors, Mandamus Lawsuits Growing in Popularity By Matt Galati

May 6 – Healthcare Immigration Now

Previous Post: « Jan 30 – New Post-Reg EB5 Ecosystem
Next Post: News: USCIS Announces Public Charge Rule Implementation Following Supreme Court Stay of Nationwide Injunctions »

Primary Sidebar

Have a Quick Question?

Send us a message and one of our immigration attorneys will respond to you within 24 hours.

Footer

Martin Jolic and Bratton LLC (formerly known as Sharon & Kálnoki LLC) is a full service Cleveland-based immigration law practice. We offer representation for almost all immigrant and nonimmigrant processes to clients worldwide.

Phone: (216) 328-9878
Fax: (216) 328-9879
Email: info@mjbimmigration.com

6050 Oak Tree Blvd., Suite 250
Independence, Ohio 44131

AILA Member Logo
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Consultation
  • News
  • Contact

Site Footer

Attorney advertising. This website is informational only. Information provided herein does not address any specific set of individual facts. Each immigration case is unique and nothing on this or associated pages, documents, forms, comments, e-mails, articles or other communication constitutes legal advice for any individual case or situation. Information provided on this site is not intended as a substitute for legal advice directed to a particular set of circumstances. Legal advice on specific, individual cases should be obtained from an experienced immigration attorney. In exchange for using this site to gather information, you agree not to hold any person involved in the preparation and presentation of this site responsible or liable, either directly or indirectly, for any damages whatsoever that may arise from the use, misuse, and/or reliance on anything contained within this site. Viewing or using information presented on this website is not privileged and does not create an attorney-client relationship. An attorney-client relationship will be created only upon the express agreement of the parties.

Copyright © 2021