2015 Visa Statistics, RC Termination, SEC Action, New RCs

2015 EB-5 Visa Statistics

Update: The corrected summary data table can be found in my 3/7/2016 post 2015 Visa Statistics by Country.

Other Items of Note

• SEC Action on Attorneys: We’ve known for months that the SEC has been pursuing a crack-down on unlicensed persons acting as unregistered brokers, and specifically: immigration attorneys who take compensation for selling EB-5 investors on projects, despite lacking qualifications and licensure to give investment advice. Here is a copy of the SEC’s detailed complaint against one law office: SEC v. Hui Feng and Law Offices of Feng & Associates P.C. This 7/12/2015 article in Mondo Visione lists seven other individuals and firms who have also settled enforcement actions with the SEC, and links to copies of the Cease and Desist order for each. Honestly, I feared to see a lot more names on this list, but perhaps the SEC is starting with a warning shot and giving time for others to get their affairs in order. The detailed Feng complaint is good reading for anyone who receives or pays commissions for selling EB-5 investments, as the SEC goes into detail about what exactly was wrong and why it was wrong in the Feng case.
• Regional Center Termination: One of the Regional Centers terminated in 2015 was brave enough to fight back, and now we can read about its case in the Administrative Appeals Office decision Matter of K-R-C, LLC, dated November 17, 2015. AAO dismissed the appeal, as nearly always happens, but it’s interesting to see what kind of evidence USCIS considered significant, the issues judged to be problematic, and the timeline of USCIS’s interactions with the Regional Center. A moral of this denial, as with so many other cases anatomized by the AAO, is the overwhelming importance of clear and clean paperwork. The case focuses on little things like how expenditures were coded on this or that document and how statements were worded on this or that filing and whether the proper reports were made at the proper time. This denial decision doesn’t go so far as trying to prove problems with the business itself, but terminates the RC based on issues apparent in the paperwork describing the business. Spend good money on your secretaries and bookkeepers and document preparers, because their humble work pushing papers and keeping numbers in order and documents in line could prove essential.
• I-829 Approvals and Denials: I don’t expect anyone besides Mr. Whalen to click on this link, but FYI a very heavily redacted file titled I-829 RFEs, denials and approvals for NY and FL during 2009-2010 has appeared in the USCIS FOIA Reading Room in the Employment Based Petitions category. Connoisseurs may be interested in reviewing the I-829 RFE template used in 2009-2010 and seeing which lawyers were filing I-829 back then.
• Legislative Update: Whatever I hear, I add to the first paragraph of my previous post.

New Regional Centers
Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 12/03/2015 to 12/08/2015

• LCR Atlantic Gulf Regional Center (Florida, Georgia) www.lcrcapital.com
• Southern California EB-5 Regional Center, LLC (California)