FY2019 Q1 EB-5 Petition Processing Statistics

April 19, 2019 33 Comments

USCIS has updated the Immigration & Citizenship Data page with data for petitions processed in FY2019 Q1 (October to December 2018).

The data shows that the Investor Program Office had an unproductive first quarter, with the fewest EB-5 forms processed since 2016. No wonder processing times remain long. Sometimes the data reflects a workload trade-off (e.g. fewer I-526 but more I-829 processed), but FY19 Q1 just had very low output overall. What’s up, IPO? Are you losing staff? Burning time with extreme-vetting RFEs? I-526 and I-829 receipts were up from the previous quarter, but still relatively low.

The All Forms report is interesting as a reminder of just how small EB-5 is in the grand scheme of employment-based petitions, and because the report now has separate line items for I-924 and I-924A.

All regional centers that want to remain in good standing should file the I-924A annual report between October and December, yet the report shows only 322 I-924A receipts for Oct-Dec 2018. Did the rest of the 885 currently-approved regional centers decide that designation isn’t worthwhile anymore? Or does the report not capture actual I-924A submissions? Certainly I-924 filings remain very low. No surprise considering the high form fee, the difficulty of operating in the current environment, and the fact that exemplar approvals have no value if they come too late to be usable.

UPDATE: I’ve added a EB-5 Timing page to collect links to data and posts related to EB-5 visa availability, visa allocation, and wait times. If you would like to order a personalized timing estimate, see the EB-5 Timing Estimates Page.

RC List Updates

There has been little activity on the USCIS regional center list since the beginning of the year.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 12/31/18 to 04/19/19

  • BC East Coast Regional Center LLC (Pennsylvania)
  • EB5 Affiliate Network Washington, D.C. Regional Center, LLC (District of Columbia)
  • Pride Capital, LLC (New York)
  • Greystone EB5 Southeast Regional Center LLC (former name Greystone Florida Regional Center LLC) (Florida) (This RC had previously been terminated for inactivity — termination letter here.)

Removed from the approved list, but not added to the terminated list

  • Three Streams Mid-Atlantic Regional Center (Maryland)

New Terminations

  • San Francisco Regional Center (California) Terminated 2/13/2019
  • Midwest Investment Fund, LLC (Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio) Terminated 2/5/2019

Filed under EB-5 Statistics, Updates from USCIS

Updates (Redeployment, Material Change, India Retrogression, I-526 processing and RFEs)

April 9, 2019 24 Comments

Redeployment

Last year IPO asked industry stakeholders to offer suggestions regarding redeployment. IIUSA has now followed up with a Memo to USCIS on Redeployment Policy. The memo points out again why the redeployment policy should not even exist, since neither statute nor regulation nor precedent supports a requirement to redeploy EB-5 investment into additional business activity after the job creation requirement has already been met and funds have been returned to the NCE.  The memo goes on to make the case that if USCIS still persists in requiring redeployment, the options for redeployment investment should not be arbitrarily limited. I hope that IPO will, as promised, give serious consideration to this reasonable feedback.

Material Change

The redeployment problem is bound up with the material change problem, which is why I’m looking forward to a free Material Change Seminar to be hosted by Carolyn Lee on April 17th, 2019 at 2:00 – 3:00PM Eastern. E-mail to reserve a spot and send advance questions.

India Retrogression

Based on a prediction by Charles Oppenheim in October 2018, we’ve been expecting India to reach its annual limit of available EB-5 visas this fiscal year, and get a cut-off date in the Visa Bulletin by July 2019 at latest. However, in a post on 4/2/2019, Matthew Galati shares quotes from AILA’s March 2019 “Check-in with DOS’s Charlie Oppenheim”: “Charlie previously expected EB-5 India to reach its per country limit by July 2019. However, he is no longer certain that will happen. He is watching the demand data and should have a better sense of the number usage within a few weeks. The decline in demand mentioned above, possibly resulting from reauthorization concerns, makes it difficult for Charlie to estimate how many additional numbers may be used by ‘high demand’ EB-5 countries.”

That “decline in demand” refers to “fewer applicants proceeding to final action on their cases at consular posts abroad and USCIS Offices.” The queue of applicants has not reduced in length (probably), but it has advanced to final action more slowly than expected – delayed by the government shutdown and lapse in regional center program authorization.  So what does this mean? For most Indians awaiting a visa number, possibly not much. The key question is not “in which month will retrogression occur” so much as “can I get my visa number before retrogression occurs?” That second question depends on the length of the queue in front of the petitioner (which probably hasn’t changed) more than the specific date for running out of visas (which may be later than expected due to slower-than-expected processing).  For Indians who will adjust status, a later Visa Bulletin could at least have the benefit of maximizing the window to at least file I-485 (thus opening the combo card option in advance of visa availability).

I-526 processing and RFEs

I created a model that divides inventory of pending I-526 petitions by completion rates, and concludes that processing times should be falling as inventory falls. However, the USCIS processing times report indicates that I-526 times are getting longer, even as IPO has fewer and fewer petitions to process. Why is this so? IPO’s secret, I gather, is to introduce an unofficial new step to the EB-5 process: the comprehensive I-526 RFE. Officially, Form I-526 foresees how funds will be spent and how jobs will be created, while Form I-829 demonstrates how funds were spent and how jobs were created. Officially, a Request for Evidence on the Form I-526 asks questions about the original submission and clarifies eligibility at the time of filing. In practice, IPO has been issuing I-526 RFEs that do not only or primarily question the original submission, but basically ask the petitioner to submit an updated collection of I-526 evidence plus prematurely provide I-829-stage evidence for actual past expenditures and job creation. IPO is adjudicating the I-526 one to two years after it was filed, and the adjudicator is naturally curious about the current status and progress of the project. I-526 business plans are dusty by the time adjudicators finally review them, while payroll records may be available by that time. But the adjudication delay is not the petitioner’s fault, and does not change I-526 eligibility or evidentiary requirements. It’s not right to make a habit of using RFEs as a surreptitious new “Form I-526-B” that calls on petitioners to redo and resubmit original I-526 documents with no fault but age, and prematurely satisfy I-829 requirements at the I-526 stage.

Washington Updates

Apparently there’s some discussion in Washington about visa numbers, and leadership upsets throughout DHS. We shall see what changes actually occur, and whether they affect EB-5.

Filed under EB-5 Law & Policy