FY2026 Q2 EB-5 Processing Data (I-526/I-526E, I-829, I-956F)

Today USCIS updated the Immigration and Citizenship Data page with reports for form receipts, approvals, denials, and processing times as of FY2026 Q2 (January to March 2026).

The reports show steady incoming EB-5 demand in Q2, persistently low EB-5 processing volumes, and slightly elevated denial rates.

I updated the spreadsheet linked to my EB5 Timing page, but the new data does not shift the analysis much. It turns out that indeed, Rural and High Unemployment backlogs continued to grow in Q2 at nearly the same rate as in Q1. Low I-526E approval volumes in Q2 continued to limit the number of investors becoming qualified visa applicants. I keep expecting a surge in I-526/I-526E receipts and/or processing activity, but that hadn’t happened yet as of March 2026. Meanwhile, I-829 processing dipped slightly and I-526 processing remained almost nonexistent in Q2, while median processing times ticked up.

The All Form Types report includes the number of EB-5 forms received and processed in FY2026 Q2.

I-526/I-526E Filings by Country and TEA Category

The dedicated Form I-526/I-526E report for FY2026 Q2 provides detail for receipts by country and TEA category. (Thank you USCIS for this essential data for understanding otherwise invisible backlogs!) See the tables below for a summary of Q2 data, comparison with the previous Q1 report (very similar), and aggregate totals to date. China and India filed almost twice as many Rural as High Unemployment petitions in recent quarters, mirroring differences in set-aside visa numbers. The Infrastructure mystery continues, with USCIS still not recording/reporting any Infrastructure I-526E receipts — despite industry/investor reports that a significant number of Infrastructure I-526E have been filed.

Summing up reports for 2022 to 2026, the data shows over 18,000 EB-5 investments made from April 2022 to March 2026. It’s going to take awhile to find visas for potentially over 36,000 visa applicants. (Department of State has still not published the 2025 Report of the Visa Office or any FY2026 monthly reports, so we don’t know what’s happening currently with visa issuance. The most recent pending I-485 report shows over 7,600 Rural and over 8,200 High Unemployment adjustment applicants pending as of April 3, 2026.)

Processing Trends

Overall, IPO processing productivity dipped again in FY2026 Q2.

The following charts put the Q2 data for I-526, I-526E, I-829, and I-956F in context of previous reports. I note median processing time increases across the board (which might reflect a trend toward more FIFO processing), a slightly elevated I-526E denial rate (20%), a slight dip in I-829 processing volume, and ongoing low-volume and negative processing for I-526. So long as USCIS consistently processes fewer petitions than it receives every quarter, pending inventories will continue to grow. What is IPO staff doing, I wonder? The NPRM for the proposed EB-5 regulation disclosed that IPO is in the midst of a four-year plan to hire 229 more staff, with “about half” the allocated positions filled as of November 3, 2025. That’s good news. Surely all those human resources must translate into more processing activity, eventually.