By Joey Barnett and Charlie Oppenheim
The Department of State has just released the October 2024 Visa Bulletin, and it shows very good news for the new Reform and Integrity Act EB-5 program and for Chinese and Indians waiting in line under the prior EB-5 program. Here is some preliminary thoughts from WR Immigration on the new October 2024 Visa Bulletin.
First, it is predicting that the reserved visa categories, that is rural, high unemployment and infrastructure will remain open for most, if not all of FY2025 which starts in a few weeks on October 1, 2024, and ends September 30, 2025. Despite strong demand and the possibility of a final action date cutoff being established, applicants from China and India and all other countries will continue to be able to concurrently file adjustment of status applications under the reduced investment of $800,000 for the next few months, and possibly for most of 2025. This is a huge advantage as they get 5 year work and travel permits and those on H-1Bs are no longer tied to their employers.
Second, applicants from China and India who applied under the old EB-5 program also see considerable forward movement in the waiting lines. The China waiting line had been stuck in 2015 since there were several “surge” filings that year due to possible price increases or program subsets. In addition, the waiting line was impacted by over-demand, Covid delays, and the program lapse. The good news is the Final Action Date (chart A) advanced from December 15,2015 to July 15, 2016, a full 7 months. While it can advance or retrogress based on monthly visa availability, this is a huge leap forward. This means that persons from China who filed adjustments under the date for filing (chart B) with filing dates up to July 15, 2016, can now be approved by USCIS, and persons waiting abroad can expect to be issued green cards. For Indian nationals in the waiting line the news is even better. The Final Action Date or chart A moved a over a year from December 1, 2020, to January 1, 2022, which will allow many Indians to obtain their conditional green cards. The news is all good and 2025 will likely be another excellent year for the new EB-5 program that has brought in over $4.5 billion in investment and created thousands of new jobs.
For more information and insight, please click here to register for our next Chatting with Charlie: EB-5 Investor Outlook on Thursday, September 26th.
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