WR Immigration Managing Partner Bernie Wolfsdorf and Partner Joey Barnett are joined by special guest Charlie Oppenheim, Former Chief of Visa Control and Reporting Division at U.S. Department of State, to provide analysis and observations on the EB–5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022.
By: Joseph Barnett, Esq., Bernard Wolfsdorf, Esq., and Robert Blanco, Esq. 80 countries have treaties with the U.S. that permit foreign nationals to obtain E-2 Treaty Investor visas, which allow an investor or certain key executives permission to work in the U.S. However, the E-2 visa does not lead to a U.S. green card, and minor children can only stay on their parent’s visas until reaching 21 years old. So, the question arises: How may an E-2 Treaty Investor convert his/her nonimmigrant visa to an EB-5 investor green card to allow him/her to remain permanently in the U.S., and after 5 years, apply to be a U.S. citizen. Careful planning and having a detailed strategy is essential to ensure that E-2 investors carefully structure their E-2 business in order to possibly convert the visa into an EB-5 green card. Introduction The E-2 Treaty Investor visa grants nonimmigrant status to nationals of a treaty country (not Brazil, Russia, India, or China) who invest a substantial amount of capital in a U.S. business. Qualified Treaty Investors are issued an E-2 visa valid for up to five years, depending on their country of citizenship and reciprocity. Extensions of stay may be granted in increments of up to two years each, as long […]
By Bernard Wolfsdorf When I first started filing EB-5 petitions many years ago, my clients were frustrated if their EB-5 petitions took 6 months to process. Today, USCIS’ published processing time for an I-526 petition is between 30 and 48.5 months, and if from China, which is quota backlogged, it is between 63.5 and 80.5 months. USCIS’ recently released performance data provides a potential glimpse into the future regarding Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur processing. In Q1 of FY 2021 (October to December 2020), the Immigrant Investor Program Office adjudicated over 1,100 Forms I-526, the second quarter in a row with over 1,000 adjudications (and the most in two quarters for nearly 2 years). With COVID-19 expected to recede, USCIS employees soon heading back to work, and the NVC backlog set to decrease, “normal” processing for EB-5 investors may not be too far out in the distance. For the past couple of months, WR Immigration has been receiving approvals for Forms I-526 filed in Q1 of FY 2019 (October to December 2018). Less than 2,400 Forms I-526 were filed the rest of that fiscal year, before over 4,200 new cases were submitted in Q1 of FY 2020 […]
