Q1 2016 Petition Processing Stats, RC List Changes

Petition Processing Trends

The USCIS Citizenship and Immigration Data page has been updated with data on I-526 and I-829 petition processing in the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 (aka October to December 2015).  The numbers are not heartening. Investor Program Office petition processing volume peaked in April-June 2015, and progressively lost ground over the following quarters.  In Q1 2016, IPO processed 355 more I-829 petitions but 933 fewer I-526s than in the previous quarter.  The I-829 gains are nice, but then the I-829 backlog is only a dire 4,000+ petitions while the I-526 backlog is an extremely dire near-22,000 petitions. IPO cannot afford to be processing fewer and fewer I-526s, or fewer EB-5 petitions overall. The number of I-526 receipts is also striking. We expected the surge in July to September 2015, in advance of the possible September 30th Regional Center Program sunset date, but the numbers show that the surge continued through December. That’s two quarters in a row with over 6,000 I-526 filings each. The program can’t handle many quarters like that, considering that only about 10,000 EB-5 visas are available per year for investors plus family members (not to mention the fact that IPO has only managed to process about 3,000 I-526s a quarter at best). In addition to slowing I-526 processing over the course of the year, IPO got tougher, denying 8% of I-526 petitions processed in Q3 2015, 15% in Q4 2015, and 23% in Q1 2016.

Regional Center List Updates

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 03/01/2016 to 03/21/2016.

• American Lending Center Ohio, LLC (Ohio): usa-rc.com
• American National Regional Center Southern California (California)
• Discovery Florida, LLC (Florida)
• East West Global Regional Center (California)
• Fairhaven Capital Advisors Regional Center (Colorado)
• MCFI Mississippi / Louisiana (Mississippi): www.mcfiusa.com
• MCFI New York / New Jersey / Connecticut (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York): www.mcfiusa.com
• Midwestern Investments For America, LLC (Ohio)
• Nevada Regional Center Enterprises (Nevada)
• New York Renaissance Regional Center, LLC (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York)
• Reliant Regional Center (Minnesota): www.relianteb5.com
• Socal Investment Regional Center (California)
• Southwest Florida Regional Center, LLC (Florida)
• TriHaven Investment Group Southern California (California)

Name Changes:

• Southern California Commercial Regional Center LLC (former name US Commercial Regional Center) (California)
• Charter Investor Financial (former name Charter USA Financial LLC) (Florida)