DOS Alert on Visa Processing
April 12, 2022 36 Comments
Today April 12, 2022, the Department of State US Visas News page published “Announcement on Resumption of Processing of EB-5 Visas Associated with the Regional Center Program“:
On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed a law that made changes to the EB-5 program, authorized a new EB-5 Immigrant Investor Regional Center Program, and directed that certain “grandfathered” immigration benefits be processed. The Department has resumed processing visas associated with the Regional Center Program based on approved USCIS Forms I-526 (Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur), including those filed on or before the expiration of the previous regional center program on June 30, 2021. Further, pursuant to the new legislation, processing of visas associated with the new Regional Center Program may begin 60 days after enactment of the law.
Thank goodness for the push from well-drafted grandfathering language in the new law. Notice the two policies: one for Regional Center 1.0, and one for Regional Center 2.0. The Department “has resumed” processing visas based on approved I-526 based on previous regional center program authorization. For I-526 based on the “new Regional Center Program,” DOS “may begin” processing after 60 days.
Commenters, let me know if you can access your NVC accounts, or have any other evidence that the Department has actually resumed processing for pending applicants.
EB-5 Updates 
we still cannot access our NVC account
Hi! Are you waiting on a visa interview appointment after being documentary qualified by a consulate for I5 category?
Thxâ¦.we will check the system to see if it is openâ¦â¦
Regards,
Martin
Lawler & Lawler Martin J. Lawler
Law Offices 1045 Mason Street, Suite 401
San Francisco, CA 94108
P: 415.391.2010 / http://www.aboutvisas.com
Does it mean applications with pending i-526 before March 15, 2022 would fall under the latter category as per latest USCIS directive?
Category-1 : Grandfathered (15Mar2022)
Further, pursuant to the new legislation, processing of visas associated with the new Regional Center Program may begin 60 days after enactment of the law.
Hi! I am still waiting for my CEAC account to be unlocked. Please let me know if anyone else had theirs unlocked.
My Ceac account is still not open
I actually got my biometrics appointment scheduled in the past 2 weeks. I526 was already approved and I had gotten by combo card a month or so ago. Waiting for I485 approval and things seem to have kick started with USCIS
Hello RAJ, can you please share your I-526 approval and combo card received date? My I-526 was approved in November 17th 2021, AOS filed January 14th 2022, Combo received March 1st 2022, Still didn’t received any biometric appointment.
Thank you
Does this also mean that they can start approving the pending 485 petitions?
Does this mean AOS can be adjudicated and DOS will not wait for VB update for approving pending I485 applications from investors filed before 6/30/2021? Or do we expect VB April correction and May VB with “C” to be released soon?
60 days mean they will process on MAY-15, right?
“60 days” appears in the sentence about applicants under the new regional center program, not in the sentence about grandfathered applicants. Visa processing for people with approved I-526 “has resumed” according to the message.
Hi Suzanne,
Thnq for ur valuable efforts which can’t be repaid in any manner. Need to know that I have applied in December 2018 under Rc program from India,acc to u how much wait for i526 adjudication.
Hello Hari, Mine was Nov 2018 PD in June 2021 approved, later EB lapse. yours will be soon as USCIS started adjudicating. Good Luck
Thnq Aravind..
what happens to the users who have their priority date in Nov 2019 and 526 is still not approved?
November 2019 is close to the back of the inventory of 13,000+ pending I-526, so a processing wait can be expected
Under the new rule of concurrent filing for AOS & EAD, if your country is current, 526 is filed in Nov 2019 & is pending with USCIS – then can you file AOS & EAD now? I believe the answer is yes, can someone confirm?
Yes, I filed my EAD and AP a couple of weeks ago.
US Embassy in Singapore have emailed to us to re- issue the visas which were issued earlier in April 2020 but we could not travel to the US by end of June
I had my i-526 apprpved in Augustof 2020 and have been documentarily qualified since Dec 2020. Waiting for an interview at a US Consulate. NVC status still throws an error stating that my case is not eligible for further processing by the NVC at this time.
Does this mean pending I-526 RC cases are resumed for processing or just the approved I-526 RC cases? We have a pending RC I-526 case with PD of Feb 2019, what can we expect as of now?
Did anyone have their CEAC portal opened? Did anyone waiting on interview got contacted by DOS/Consulate?
My CEAC portal is still not opened! Does anyone have any news on when they will open?
we received bulk email today from NVC below:
On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed a law that authorizes a new EB-5 Regional Center Program and grandfathers I-526 regional center petitions that were filed on or before June 30, 2021 pursuant to the prior Regional Center Program. The ‘EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022’ authorizes the newly created EB-5 regional center program until September 30, 2027. As a result, the National Visa Center (NVC) will resume pre-processing EB-5 regional center cases.
Wait at least 48 hours for our systems to update before you begin paying the immigrant visa (IV) application processing fee(s) and completing a visa application. Please note your previously submitted IV fee payments remain valid.
If you attempted to submit the required civil documents, after June 30, 2021, you can resubmit them now.
If you received a cancellation notice before your scheduled interview and your case is at NVC, we will reschedule your appointment with the appropriate U.S. Embassy or Consulate; however, if your case is no longer at NVC, contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate website where you plan to interview.
Your appointment will be rescheduled based on the operating status and capacity of the consular section, and we cannot predict when your case will be rescheduled for an interview.
We have not received this email as yet from the NVC. has anyone else received this?
Hi Sharon & Raj.. Thanks for your replies. I also got the same NVC generic response today. Hope Raj you get it soon.
Sharon when were you documentary qualified? in 2020 or 2021 for interview? Do you know if they already started scheduling interviews?
I have not either received the notice.
most of my clients were documentary qualified in 2020. I have no client started scheduling interviewing yet.
Does the Attorney on record also get the same copy of this email from the NVC? we finally got the email from the NVC yesterday but not sure if our attorney is also sent a copy directly from NVC
@Raj – in our case, the email was sent to us as well as our attorney..
Hi Sharon, did you hear anything new this past week? Did NVC start scheduling interviews for your clients this week? I have not heard anything on my end.
Can anyone explain, what is ‘Documentary Qualified”?
Helpful links:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/glossary.html
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-1-submit-a-petition.html
Thanks so much !!!!!
I filed an I485 in Q4 2020. My Biometrics Appointment has been scheduled for early May.