2015 Visa Statistics by Country, RC list changes

2015 Visa Statistics
The US Department of State has finally published Section V. of Report of the Visa Office 2015, so we now have figures by country for all EB-5 visas issued in FY2015. (Last December I reported numbers from Section VI of the report, which only reflects EB-5 visas issued at consulates.) Here is my updated summary table.

DOS issued over 10,000 EB-5 visas in 2014, and fewer than 10,000 in 2015. China continues to dominate the list of countries, but with a smaller percentage of total visas in 2015 than 2014. Vietnam topped the list of countries claiming an increased number of visas in 2015, while China, South Korea, and Mexico showed significant decrease between 2014 and 2015. It’s interesting to note the number of visas issued to applicants from islands (including British and French territories) and wonder how many of these may be for applicants originally from more difficult countries who got intermediate citizenship. In terms of use, visas for regional center investments (98.4% of total) and TEA investments (99.2% of total) were even more dominant in 2015 than 2014. I assume that visa numbers for 2015 mainly reflect investments made in 2012-2014 (considering processing and wait times) by about 4,440 investors (assuming average 2.2 visas per investor). FYI here is my post with summary table for the 2014 Visa Office report. And note that IIUSA has a handy Investor Origin Map showing EB-5 investments by country.

Regional Center List Updates

Changes to the USCIS Regional Center List, 2/10/2016 to 03/01/2016

New Approvals:

• EB-5 Bonds Texas-Oklahoma, LLC (Oklahoma, Texas)
• Future Resources, Inc. (California): fureinc.com
• Index Regional Center, LLC (Florida)
• Rainier Valley RC LLC (Washington)

Name Changes:

• Florida First Regional Center, LLC (former name USEGF Florida Regional Center) (Florida)

Terminations:

• Luca Energy Fund Regional Center (Louisiana, Texas): Terminated 2/2/2016
• U.S. Investment Regional Center, LLC (Arizona): Terminated 2/22/2016