4/25 meeting notes, RC list changes
April 25, 2016 Leave a comment
4/25/2016 Listening Session
Today’s EB-5 stakeholder meeting with USCIS was indeed a listening session — a venue for stakeholder opinions and not for tips and answers from USCIS. In case you’re a lawmaker or regulator and interested in reviewing insightful comments from the public, here is my recording. For the rest of us, who are mainly just curious about what USCIS has to say, here are a few tidbits that came out in the meeting:
- USCIS will be initiating an IDEA community campaign to collect additional input on EB-5 regulation/policy changes. When that goes live, I’ll post a notice here.
- I-829 interviews will begin this year, at first virtually, and interviewees may bring counsel, Regional Center representatives, and Regional Center counsel.
- An audit program for regional centers is being implemented this year, and site visits are being expanded for direct and regional center projects.
- IPO is up to 126 staff and on track to have 171 employees by year end.
- IPO did not give any hints about the anticipated content of or timeline for revised regulations or new policy.
- IPO will work closely with Congress up to the next deadline for regional center program reauthorization (September 30, 2016), and just in case will prepare “what if” guidance for two sunset scenarios: if the Regional Center program lapses but Congress apparently intends to reauthorize it, or if Congress indicates its desire to end the program.
- IPO Chief Nicolas Colucci reported some preliminary processing data. Q2 2016 receipts: 849 (I-526), 886 (I-829), 40 (I-924). Completions from October 2015 to March 2016 (Q1-Q2 2016): 4,141 (I-526), 1,255 (I-829), 135 (I-924). The big story in these numbers is I-526 receipts, as illustrated in the following figure.
Regional Center List Changes
Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 04/19/2016 to 04/25/2016
- Regional Center of the Pacific (California)
Additions to the USCIS list of terminated regional centers:
- WRC EB-5 Regional Center, Inc. (Washington) Terminated 4/13/2016
EB-5 Updates 