WR Immigration Partner Bernie Wolfsdorf and Partner Joey Barnett lead a webinar focusing on providing practical information to EB-5 investors, attorneys and EB-5 regional centers and including an update on:
By Joseph Barnett and Bernard Wolfsdorf The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 brings the immigrant investor program back to life. The May 2022 Visa Bulletin has just been published and it lists new fifth-preference visa categories as follows: A. DIRECT EB-5 CURRENT FOR ALL COUNTRIES, INCLUDING CHINA All countries are current under the 5th preference direct program – so-called “Unreserved (C5, T5, and all others) are now open. This includes China. B. REGIONAL CENTER EB-5 CURRENT FOR ALL COUNTRIES, EXCEPT CHINA STUCK AT 22NOV15 C. NEW SET ASIDE CATEGORIES CURRENT FOR ALL COUNTRIES, INCLUDING CHINA As of March 2021, 32% of all EB-5 visas are reserved as follows: 20% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in a rural area; 10% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in a high unemployment area; and 2% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in infrastructure projects. Any unused “set aside” visas are to be reserved for a maximum of two years. The remaining 68% are unreserved and are allotted for all other qualified EB-5 immigrants. IMPACT OF EB-5 CURRENT CATEGORIES Persons lawfully in the U.S. (or even certain 245(k) persons out of status by up to 180days) can file I-485 adjustment of […]
By Joey Barnett The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (“RIA”) created new EB-5 reserved visa set-aside categories which allow certain visa bearing nonimmigrants lawfully in the U.S. to concurrently file an adjustment of status application on Form I-485 with the Form I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (“USCIS”) has also heeded Congress’ directive to prioritize the processing and adjudication of EB-5 petitions for investment projects located in rural area, and USCIS has approved several Forms I-526E in as quick as 3-4 months! Some adjudications on Forms I-526E for investments in a “High Unemployment Area” are taking “only” 12-14 months. This “last-in-first out” LIFO approach to processing post-RIA cases is frustrating to investors who filed petitions in 2019 (or in some cases 2018) before the Regional Center program lapsed in June 2021. WR Immigration has filed hundreds of Forms I-526E and have already received dozens of approvals. Here are next steps for the immigrant investor and his/her family. 1. Form I-526E Approval Notice. The Form I-797C, Notice of Action indicates that the Form I-526E has been approved for one or more visa classifications and lists two visa categories – both reserved and […]
