{"id":56071,"date":"2020-03-26T08:15:37","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T12:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/?p=56071"},"modified":"2020-03-26T08:15:42","modified_gmt":"2020-03-26T12:15:42","slug":"chinese-vietnamese-and-indian-eb-5-candidates-face-longer-wait-due-to-i-526-processing-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/chinese-vietnamese-and-indian-eb-5-candidates-face-longer-wait-due-to-i-526-processing-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian EB-5 Candidates Face Longer Wait Due To I-526 Processing Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

US Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a shift from first-in-first-out processing of EB-5<\/a> I-526 petitions to a visa availability approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This change is set to come into effect from March 31, depending on the impact of shutdowns due to coronavirus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding this Change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Currently, USCIS processes I-526 petitions in the order in which they were filed irrespective of the nationality of the EB-5 investor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From March 31, I-526 petitions from countries without an EB-5 visa backlog will be processed first followed by petitions filed by investors from backlogged countries, namely China, Vietnam and India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understanding the EB-5 Backlog<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every year, the US issues a total of 10,000 EB-5 visas, for investors as well as their family members, with a per-country limit of 7 per cent or approximately 700 visas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A country not utilizing its quota has an excess while countries exceeding this quota has a visa backlog. The backlog is filled by distributing the unutilized quota to applicants from backlogged countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The net result of this process was EB-5 petitions from backlogged countries, due to sheer volume of applications, were processed faster than petitions from countries with unutilized quotas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implications of the New Rule<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the new decision applicable to new as well as pending applications, EB-5 investors from China, India, and Vietnam will have to wait longer for I-526 adjudication and approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applicants from these countries already face a long wait between I-526 approval and availability of the visa when their priority date becomes current. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the new processing regime, the total waiting period between filing of the I-526 petition and issue of the conditional green card is set to get significantly longer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new rule has been introduced to bring the EB-5 processing system in line with the congressional intent for enacting the EB-5 program and to make the program\u2019s administration fairer.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general processing time for an I-526 petition is between 32 and 49 months. After this change, applicants from the three countries with EB-5 backlog will face a longer wait for I-526 adjudication. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After India hit the backlog, it was estimated that an Indian investor would have to wait around eight to nine years between filing an I-526 petition and receiving the conditional green card. While there are many other variables involved, the new rule is certainly not going to shorten this period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian EB-5 Demand Unlikely to Dip<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This new rule follows the recent increase in minimum EB-5 investments<\/a> from $1 million and $500,000 to $1.8 million and $1 million respectively. Yet, despite these negative developments, EB-5 demand among Indian investors is unlikely to fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A longer waiting period may not actually be a bad thing for Indian investors with children likely to \u2018age out\u2019 of the EB-5 visa soon. The current EB-5 process freezes the child\u2019s age upon filing of the I-526 petition until it is processed and adjudicated. So, at least for these investors, a longer wait may prove to be beneficial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The waiting period for EB-1, EB-2, and EB-3 category green cards runs into decades, which makes the EB-5 visa the fastest route to permanent residence in the US. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further, unlike the H-1B route, the EB-5 visa is, at least for India candidates, a straightforward and controversy-free process for acquiring a green card. 
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a shift from first-in-first-out processing of EB-5 I-526 petitions to a visa availability approach.\u00a0 This change is set to come into effect from March 31, depending on the impact of shutdowns due to coronavirus. Understanding this Change Currently, USCIS processes I-526 petitions in the order in which they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[347,454],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/EB-5_240867797.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8hnWW-eAn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentimmigration.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}