WR Immigration Director of Visa Consulting Charlie Oppenheim and Partner Joey Barnett update on the outlook for investor visas.
Learning Topics Include:
– Review of 2022 Visa Report
– March 2023 Visa Bulletin
– Concurrent Filing Strategies
WR Immigration Podcast: Chatting with Charlie: February EB-5 Investor Visa Outlook
Related Posts:
Immigration Consequences of Marijuana Use for Green Card Holders and Non-Immigrants: Don’t Let Your Dreams and Hard Work Go Up in Smoke/Vapor
Twenty-four states, including California, and the District of Columbia have enacted laws which legalize or decriminalize the use and possession of marijuana in some form for medicinal purposes. Four of these states (Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska) and the District of Columbia have even legalized marijuana for recreational use. Yet, the U.S. federal government regulates marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (“CSA”), Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. The CSA prohibits the manufacture, importation, possession, use, and distribution of marijuana and certain narcotics, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids, and other chemicals. The U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has reaffirmed its position of enforcing the CSA, despite enactment of these state marijuana laws. It is thus important to understand that state laws authorizing the use or possession of marijuana, even if used for medicinal purposes, do not change the fact that using marijuana continues to be an offense under federal law. The confusion caused by this conflict of laws is substantial, especially as it relates to U.S. immigration status. Here are ten things lawful permanent residents (green card holders) and non-immigrants should know before smoking and/or ingesting marijuana. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990, as amended (“INA”), states […]
Analyzing the Recent Trend of EB-5 Expedited Processing
This article was previously published in the Regional Center Business Journal. The full version of the journal can be viewed in its entirety here. By: Joseph Barnett Time is of the essence, especially in EB-5 petition and application processing. Despite the Immigrant Investor Program Office’s (“IPO’s”) increase in staff and the re-organization of its adjudication teams for more efficient processing in recent years, EB-5 adjudications remain undeservedly long. According to USCIS’ September 3, 2018 website screenshot, it takes an average of about 20-26 months for I-526 adjudications, and 19.5 – 25.5 months for I-924 adjudications. One potential way to speed up EB-5 adjudications is to request “expedited processing” by USCIS. Is Expedited Processing for Soon-To-Be Backlogged Countries Helpful? Expedited processing is of particular interest these days for Indian, and some South Korean, and possibly for Taiwan and Brazilian nationals looking to receive Form I-526 approvals before the U.S. Department of State (“DOS”) imposes a Final Action Date (i.e. a Visa Bulletin cutoff date), which DOS has informally projected will occur by the Summer of 2019. There is a possibility that, through expedited processing, an EB-5 beneficiary could slide through to immigrant visa processing before a Final Action Date falls in FY 2019. Individuals […]
