12/5 Meeting, I-924A, Processing Times, New RCs (CA, IL, IN, RI, WI)

December 8, 2014 1 Comment

12/5 EB-5 Stakeholder Engagement
USCIS provided EB-5 program updates and answered stakeholder questions at the quarterly stakeholder engagement on Friday. USCIS Director Leon Rodriguez honored the event with an appearance, and stated that he desires to be not only a manager of but also an enthusiast and champion for the EB-5 program. IPO Chief Nicolas Colucci indicated that IPO has reached 94 staff, with another 10 adjudicators to be added in the next few weeks. We learned that USCIS is preparing a retrogression policy guidance memo, that the Government Accountability Office is conducting an audit of the EB-5 program with respect to fraud risk/mitigation strategies and validity of economic model job creation (instigated by Senators Grassley, Coburn, and Corker), that USCIS continues to prioritize fraud prevention (with a 15-member Fraud Detection National Security team and plans to expand site visits and compliance review), and that additional in-person stakeholder events are planned for 2015. USCIS invited stakeholders to submit comments and ideas for the forthcoming retrogression policy guidance memo and for how to improve ELIS and the Regional Center Document Library. Division Chief Julia Harrison gave practical tips on source of funds documentation, Division Chief John Lyons made some ill-considered statements on troubled business job creation, callers brought questions that were answered from the 5/30/2013 EB-5 policy memo or not answered, and anti-immigration lobbyists took up time advertising their theories while pretending to ask questions. I will link more detailed stakeholder meeting summaries from other commentators here as available. In the meantime, I’ve uploaded my recording of the call as usual, if you’d like to review it.

I-924 Form revisions
USCIS is revising the Form I-924 and Form I-924A, and you are invited to submit your comments at regulations.gov.

I-924A Filing
If you are a Regional Center principal, do not forget to file your I-924A before December 29. USCIS terminated seven Regional Centers in 2014 for failure to file.

Executive Action and EB Visa Categories
President Obama’s executive action on immigration does not directly affect EB-5, but Robert Divine has a nice article on what it does do. See Obama Legalizes Undocumented, Tweaks EB Categories.

Processing Times
USCIS has posted its monthly update to IPO processing times. I-526 and I-924 times are about the same (14.7 and 9 months respectively) while average I-829 times are up to 8.6 months.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 11/24/2014 to 12/8/2014

  • Regional Center Enterprises I, LLC (California)
  • Central California Regional Center, LLC (California)
  • American Dream Fund Chicago Regional Center, LLC (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin): www.adreamfund.com
  • RI EB-5 Regional Center, Inc. (Rhode Island): rieb5rc.com

Filed under EB-5 Resources, New RC

2014 I-526/I-829 Processing Stats, SEC Enforcement, New RCs (AL, CA, FL, IL, IN, NY, OH, OR, TX)

November 24, 2014 Leave a comment

Processing Statistics
USCIS has updated its Immigration and Citizenship Data page with fourth quarter FY2014 processing statistics for Form I-526 and Form I-829.The numbers show dramatic increases in the number of petitions filed and the number processed. USCIS received twice as many I-829 petitions this year as last, and also processed twice as many. USCIS increased its I-526 processing volume as well, but not enough to keep up with receipts which exceeded 10,000 this year and pushed the volume of pending petitions over 12,000. That soaring line of I-526 receipts is sobering, considering that each represents an investor and only about 10,000 EB-5 visas are available annually for investors plus their spouses and dependents. (The State Department issued 9,228 EB-5 visas in FY2014, and China-born investors face a high probability of EB-5 quota retrogression in 2015.) On the bright side, 1,603 investors removed conditions this year, representing millions of dollars successfully invested and thousands of new jobs successfully verified. The image below shows summary charts from my Excel file of the data, based on files from the USCIS page linked above.
FY2014stats

SEC Compliance
Chad Ellsworth of Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP has an interesting article Emphasis on Compliance and SEC Interagency Cooperation a Year after the Appointment of Chief Nicholas Colucci to the USCIS Immigrant Investor Program (EB-5). The article summarizes the SEC’s recent EB-5-related activities and describes the content of broad subpoenas issued by the SEC to a number of Regional Centers.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List,11/4/2014 to 11/24/2014

  • Cornerstone Regional Center, Inc. (Alabama and Florida): www.cornerstoneregionalcenter.com
  • Golden Opportunity Regional Center (California)
  • Southern California Health and Hospitality Regional Center, LLC (California): www.eb5mg.com
  • American Advancement Capital Co. (California)
  • Success Dragon, LLC (California)
  • Clearwater Beach Resort Regional Center, LLC (Florida): www.eb5clearwaterbeach.com
  • Miami Regional Center, LLC (Florida)
  • Orlando Regional Center, LLC (Florida)
  • Crossroads Investment Partners, LLC (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio)
  • NYC Regional Center, Inc (New York)
  • American International Venture Fund – Oregon, LLC (Oregon)
  • PetroSam, LLC (Texas): petrosam.net

Filed under EB-5 Statistics, New RC

FAQ page, Retrogression, I-829, Processing Times, New RCs (CT, IL, IN, LA, NJ, NY, TX)

November 10, 2014 Leave a comment

FAQ
I have started a new Frequently Asked Questions page that compiles official and unofficial USCIS answers to questions that affect business plans. So far I’ve linked in answers from USCIS policy guidance and stakeholder meetings, and I’ll be adding references to AAO decisions that treat sticky business plan questions.

Retrogression
Speaking at the IIUSA conference on October 23, Charles Oppenheim predicted that the EB-5 visa category will likely retrogress in July 2015. This remains a moving target, however. Ron Klasko’s blog has published a timely article on Surviving and Thriving in Times of EB-5 Quota Backlogs.

I-829
You may thank us at the IIUSA editorial committee for another great edition of the Regional Center Business Journal (October 2014). Three feature articles provide advice and analysis for I-829 petitions: The Latest Analysis of What USCIS Looks For in EB-5 I-829 RFEs and Denials, It’s Never Too Soon to Begin Preparing for I-829 Petition Filings, and Removal of Conditions for EB-5 Investors: Practical Guidance in Preparing I-829 Petitions.

Processing Times
The USCIS website has a sharp new look as of last week, but no new EB-5 content except a IPO processing times update. I-829 times are back to normal, while average I-526 and I-924 processing times continue to inch up.
IPO 930

IIUSA Conference
Mark your calendars for IIUSA’s 2015 EB-5 Regional Economic Development Advocacy Conference on April 12-14, 2015 in Washington, DC.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 10/20/2014 to 11/04/2014

  • EB5 Fund, Inc. (Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York)
  • Great Lakes Regional Center, LLC (Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin): www.glrceb-5.com
  • Southern Opportunity Regional Center LLC (Louisiana and Texas)
  • Premier Regional Center, LLC (Texas): www.premierregionalcenter.com

Filed under EB-5 Events, EB-5 Resources, EB-5 Statistics, New RC

IIUSA Conference, AILA Book, New RCs (CO, CA), Removed RCs (CO, FL)

October 21, 2014 Leave a comment

To those in San Francisco this week for the 2014 IIUSA EB-5 Market Exchange, happy deal-making! I’m not able to make this conference, but send best wishes and look forward to sharing feedback from attendees.

To those stuck behind a desk this week, I recommend you to the virtual EB-5 masterclass that is AILA’s new Immigration Options for Investors & Entrepreneurs, 3rd Ed. I received a free copy as a contributing author (I wrote the chapter on EB-5 business plans), but can now testify that the book is worth the full price ($129 for AILA members, $199 for the rest of us). This is not a collection of quick opinions, general introductions, and veiled advertising but a set of serious articles that incorporate comprehensive research and extensive experience. If I were an immigration attorney working with EB-5, I’d buy the book for the sample documents and case materials alone, not to mention excellent articles such as Estelle McKee’s practical discussion of issues in demonstrating job creation in I-829 petitions and Carolyn Lee’s definitive analysis of the at-risk requirement. (And Suzanne Lazicki’s lucid treatment of the EB-5 business plan!)  If I were an investor or offering EB-5 investments, I probably wouldn’t buy the book for myself (it’s specialized and heavy) but I would make sure that the attorney representing me had a copy. The book works hard to make good on its promise “to provide everything you need to successfully represent clients in this highly specialized area.” Click here to preview the Table of Contents, and update your Christmas list as needed.

I expect to have important updates shortly, as USCIS is overdue to update Q4 2014 petition processing statistics, and the State Department may come out with the Report of the Visa Office 2014 any day. For now, we just know that average processing times are holding steady for I-526 (13.8 months) and I-924 (8.1 months), and have shot up for I-829 (to 15.1 months, likely in connection with the transfer from California to Washington DC).

Those interested in Targeted Employment Area issues should note the new approach to TEA designations adopted by California, which has tended to be a trendsetter.

Meanwhile, USCIS continues to add and subtract Regional Centers from its list (and continues to fail to update its FOIA reading room with designation letters for the Regional Centers approved since 2012).

Changes to the USCIS Regional Center List, 10/1/2014 to 10/20/2014

Added:

  • Dynasty Group Regional Center, LLC (California)
  • California Economic Development Fund, LLC (California)
  • California Capital Investment Regional Center, LLC (California)
  • InvestAmerica EB-5 (Colorado) www. investamericaeb5.com

Removed:

  • Invest U.S. Regional Center (Colorado)
  • Hollywood Beach Regional Center LLC (Michigan)

Filed under EB-5 Events, EB-5 Resources, New RC

New RCs (CT, NJ, NY, PA), Removed RCs (CO, FL, GA, MI, OK, TX, WI), I-924A Reminder

October 6, 2014 Leave a comment

I have been tracking changes to the USCIS Regional Center list since early 2010, and today for the first time I am reporting more deletions than additions. I expect that this may be a new trend, as Regional Centers voluntarily exit the program or have their designations terminated. We know that many of the 588 or so Regional Centers currently in existence do not have current offerings. Some have already completed the projects that the Regional Center was formed to fund, some are casualties of a processing black hole that delivered belated I-924 approval well after the applicants had already lost interest and opportunities, some are on ice because the operators found foreign fundraising unexpectedly onerous, some are placeholders created by serial Regional Center filers with no projects but positioning to be attractive operators, and some are in trouble. Of Regional Centers with little apparent activity, some may choose to disband, some may demonstrate that they are in fact still promoting or about to promote economic growth, and some may be challenged by USCIS for failure to fulfill their mandate.

The federal fiscal year ended September 30, which means that it’s time for all Regional Centers to assess their current standing and, if they wish to continue, to justify their existence to USCIS. Recall that “Regional center means any economic unit, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, including increased export sales, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment.” 8 C.F.R. § 204.6(e) Regional Centers that are still interested in maintaining their designation have until December 29 to show USCIS that they are still involved in the promotion of economic growth by filling out the I-924A form and, if needed, attaching a letter with additional explanation regarding their activities. The easiest ways to receive a Notice of Intent to Terminate are to simply not file I-924A at all and/or to be the subject of high-profile legal action. But that’s not the only conceivable way to lose designation. Robert Loughran’s analysis of termination letters, which I’ve linked here before, itemizes factors that have been used to justify Regional Center terminations. IPO Chief Nicolas Colucci reminded us in the 9/10 stakeholder meeting that USCIS is taking the I-924A responses seriously, so all Regional Centers should be sure to fill out the I-924A form, consulting both the I-924A form instructions and the Questions and Answers on I-924A, and keeping in mind the Regional Center mandate.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 9/16/2014 to 10/01/2014

  • Lightstone New York Regional Center, LLC (Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania): lightstoneeb5.com
  • Adirondack Regional Center of New York, LLC (New York)

Subtractions:

  • Ecorntech Regional Center (Wisconsin)
  • Michigan Renaissance Regional Center (Michigan)
  • Gateway Georgia Regional Center (Georgia)
  • South Florida EB-5 Regional Center, LLC (Florida)
  • InvestAmerica EB-5, LLC (Colorado)
  • Kansas Bio-Fuel RC, LLC (Kansas)
  • South West Biofuel RC, LLC (SWBRC) (Texas, Oklahoma)

There’s another glossy report out on the EB-5 program, this one a positive and well-researched one from the American Immigration Counsel’s Immigration Policy Center. If you want to give someone a solid and accurate introduction to EB-5’s bright side, I recommend The US Immigrant Investor Program: New American Investors Making a Difference in The Economy. (And if you prefer train wrecks, sign up for Google news updates to get the unfolding drama of accusations and confusion around the breakdown of EB-5 partnerships in South Dakota.)

Filed under EB-5 Resources, New RC

New RCs (AZ, CA, CT, GA, MN, NJ, NV, NY, OH, PA, PR, TX, WA, WI)

September 16, 2014 2 Comments

WordPress tells me that not many people clicked on my link from last post to USCIS’s published Q&A from the 2/26/2014 EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting. So here’s another chance. This is really a good Q&A, with substantive responses on hot button issues including Regional Center sales, redemption agreements, deference, asset purchase, Census Tract aggregation, evidence at I-829 of model direct jobs, for-profit activities, guest expenditure jobs, bridge financing, hypothetical plan content, and geographic range of a Regional Center. I learned more from this written Q&A than I learned from listening to the meeting itself. I’m also bookmarking the page for the 9/10/2014 EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting, which will eventually also be updated with USCIS’s meeting notes.  In the meantime, Robert Divine and Melanie Walker have the best summary so far of key issues from the 9/10 meeting.

And USCIS has updated its Regional Center list.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 9/5/2014 to 9/16/2014

  • DRC Capital Partners, LLC (Arizona)
  • E & W Lake Tahoe Regional Center LLC (California)
  • New York Connecticut Regional Center, LLC (Connecticut, New York)
  • Encore Georgia Regional Center, LLC (Georgia): encoreeb5.com
  • Headwaters Regional Center, LLC (Minnesota, Wisconsin)
  • Pacific Casino & Entertainment Group Regional Center (Nevada)
  • AscendAmerica, LLC (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania): www.ascendamerica.com
  • MidAmerican Global Ventures, LLC (Ohio): www.midamericanglobal.com (The list currently shows Mag Ventures 1, LLC, Mag Ventures 2, LLC, Mag Ventures 3, LLC, but I assume this is a mistake that will be corrected.)
  • Caribbean Regional Center (Puerto Rico) http://caribbeanregionalcenter.com/
  • Abasto Regional Center (Texas): www.mcallenwarehouse.com
  • South Texas EB-5 Regional Center (Texas): www.stxeb5.com
  • USLiving Regional Center (Texas)
  • Pacific Viniculture (Washington)

Filed under New RC, Updates from USCIS

9/10 EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting

September 11, 2014 Leave a comment

In case you missed yesterday’s EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting with USCIS, here is a link to my recording. IPO Chief Nicolas Colucci provided program updates while new hires handled a question and answer session.

From the program updates we learned that the IPO (Investor Program Office in Washington DC) is still in hiring and training mode, with 83 staff as of now and an on-going goal to reach 110 by December 31. Most new hires have been adjudicators. IPO has been handling all I-526 and I-924, and I-829 will start transitioning from the CSC to IPO as of the end of this month. The IPO is also about to move to a new facility in DC, so be aware of current addresses. Revisions to the EB-5 regulations are still in progress, with IPO about to solicit more input from an interagency symposium with federal partners. IPO has selected the Department of Commerce to create a study on the economic impact of EB-5, due out next summer. Once again, we are promised an annual report in December with program related info, statistics, and a macro view of Regional Center activity.

Most significantly, we learned that USCIS has sent Notices of Intent To Terminate to 53 Regional Centers this year! Of these, 29 were sent to Regional Centers that failed to file I-924a in 2013, and 24 were issued recently for other reasons. A Regional Center receiving such a notice has opportunity to respond and try to address any defaults, so we aren’t necessarily about to see a flood of terminations. But it’s good to know that USCIS is serious about monitoring the on-going performance of Regional Centers, and challenging those that are “no longer serving the purpose of promoting economic growth.” With this in mind, Regional Centers should take care about filing the I-924a for 2014. Be sure to file it on time (before 12/29 this year) and to fill out the form completely. Mr. Colucci noted that RCs may attach a letter to the form to provide additional facts. (And you should definitely take that opportunity, if your RC’s activities in 2014 didn’t translate into numbers that look good on the form.)

From the Q&A period we learned that new permanent deputy chief Julia Harrison is very sharp, with the will and ability to provide informed, substantive, and helpful responses (as possible under the circumstances), while new division chiefs Lori Melton and John Lyons were and sounded sensible, respectively. It was confirmed that RC adjudications for a single project are still generally being grouped, which can be an exception to the general FIFO policy on I-526 processing. I expect that the most talked-over moments in this call will be Julia’s statement on potential impacts of China retrogression and the conditional acceptability of holdback escrows (starting about minute 15) and Martin Lawler’s question about guarantees between the NCE and JCE (1 hr and 14 minutes into the call). The Q&A includes a few other points of procedural interest to immigration lawyers, who composed the bulk of the callers, and you may review my recording for details, or go to other blogs for summaries (e.g. Robert Divine on the IIUSA Blog, EB5 Insights, Mona Shah Law). Generally, the message I got is that USCIS is looking to the 5/30 Policy Memo to provide guidance about what does and doesn’t work for EB-5, so the community may as well do the same.

UPDATE: USCIS has also posted an Executive Summary and Questions and Answers from the last regular EB-5 Stakeholder meeting on 2/26/2014.

Filed under Updates from USCIS

Cautionary Tale (KS), Processing Times Update

September 5, 2014 Leave a comment

I assume that immigration lawyers don’t have many would-be immigrants calling up to say “I want to get a CR1 visa. Please help me find a wife.” People understand that marriage and immigration are separate issues. Of course the lawyer who handles your paperwork doesn’t also help you fall in love. The CR1 relative visa grants you benefits based on a relationship that you have entered into, but the marriage decision is obviously separate from and prior to the immigration process.

When all this is clear for an immigrant spouse, why do immigrant investors get confused? Immigration lawyers do often hear the request “I want to get an EB-5 visa. Please help me find an investment.” Apparently many people do not understand that, in the US, the investment decision and the immigration decision are separate. The lawyer who handles your immigration paperwork is not placed or qualified to select a good investment for you. Neither is USCIS. The EB-5 visa grants you benefits based on an investment decision that you have made, and that decision involves factors that are separate from immigration considerations. Potential immigrant investors, take note! Investing half a million or a million dollars is a serious matter in itself, just as getting married is a serious matter in itself. These are not fundamentally immigration matters, even when they provide a basis for a visa later. Get advice from people who know about investing or who know about marriage. Go on lots of dates, talk about everything, meet the family, see a marriage counselor. Research the investment opportunity and the principals and get qualified investment advice. If you skip all that and just focus on immigration, you’re missing the point and are very vulnerable to getting hurt by your marriage or by your investment decision.

The news this week reminds us of what can happen. See the SEC’s notice “SEC Charges L.A.-Based Immigration Attorneys With Defrauding Investors Seeking U.S. Residency” and a more detailed article in the local news “Three charged by SEC in western Kan. ethanol scheme.” It’s hard to tell whether this started out a fraud or just as incompetence/bad luck that spiraled into fraud, but either way I don’t think this could have happened if the victims involved had recognized that EB-5 investment decisions require serious attention and diligence, and that one should not depend on immigration consultants to advise on much less to manage investments.  At the same time, the perpetrators might not have dared so much had they taken the investment angle of EB-5 seriously. Maybe the perpetrators thought that EB-5 is just an immigration program and they were free to do what they wanted so long as not caught by USCIS review. Now the heavy hand of the Securities and Exchange Commission is on them, reminding them that EB-5 investments are  investments and regulated and policed as such, regardless of the immigration angle. 

In other news, IPO processing times have been updated on the USCIS Processing Time Information page, with little change since last update.

IPO731

Filed under EB-5 in the News, Updates from USCIS

New RCs (CA, CT, DC, GA, IL, IN, MA, MD, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, PA, RI, VA, WA)

July 29, 2014 1 Comment

I’ve been busy recently and haven’t had news to break, but will emerge from the pile of paper on my desk to post my usual update of newly approved Regional Centers (which continue to redefine what qualifies as “focus on a geographic region”). For detail on what else has been said and done in EB-5 world over the past few weeks, I recommend you to http://iiusa.org/blog/. Also note that the June 2014 Regional Center Business Journal (online at http://issuu.com/iiusa) has some excellent content, including an article unraveling the intricacies of New Market Tax Credits and their potential in combination with EB-5, an article on Targeted Employment Area data changes, an article on how to approach escrow and fund administration if a broker-dealer will be involved in the offering, and an article that summarizes analysis by yours truly of 2013 Regional Center approval letters.  EB-5 Investors Magazine (http://magazine.eb5investors.com/) Spring 2014 edition is also very interesting. I question the information and conclusions in a few of the articles, but overall the publication is thought-provoking and substantial, with Meyer & Peng’s article on Due Diligence and Dual Representation in EB-5 Cases being particularly worth a read. Also, I can’t help smiling every time I look at the cover. Both these publications are rather tough to read online, but are available in print.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 7/8/2014 to 7/29/2014

  • Cal Pacific RC LLC (California)
  • SPG Regional Center, LLC (California)
  • EB5 Regional Center of America LLC (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York): www. EB5RCA.com
  • Northeast Regional Center, Inc. (Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia): www. pathwayseb5.com
  • EB5 Affiliate Network State of Georgia Regional Center, LLC (Georgia): www.eb5affiliatenetwork.com
  • Tur Partners Metropolitan Regional Center, LLC (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin): turpartners.com
  • Nevada Investment Regional Center, LLC (Nevada)
  • L&L New York Regional Center, LLC (New Jersey, New York)
  • New York Green Hotel Regional Center LLC (Connecticut, New Jersey, New York)
  • Carolina Growth Regional Center, LLC (North Carolina) http://www.carolina-eb5-regionalcenter.com/
  • Pacific Northwest Investment RC, LLC (Washington State)
  • Seattle Area Regional Center, LLC (Washington State): seattlearearegionalcenter.com
  • Name change from Utah High Country Regional Center to Golden Lamp Regional Center, Inc. (Utah): www.goldenlampregionalcenter.com

Filed under New RC

RIMS II Update, 5/31 Processing Times, New RCs (AZ, CA, FL, NV, TX)

July 8, 2014 Leave a comment

News from the Bureau of Economic Analysis regarding RIMS II:

BEA to Release Modified Regional Input-Output Model in 2015
The Bureau of Economic Analysis plans to release in 2015 a modified economic model to replace the original Regional Input-Output Modeling System (RIMS II). Cost savings will be realized because the modified model will be updated less frequently.
Much like RIMS II, the modified model will produce regional “multipliers” that can be used in economic impact studies to estimate the total economic impact of a project on a region.
However, the modified model will be updated with new input-output (I-O) data only for benchmark years. That is — years ending in 2 and 7. The modified model will become available to customers in 2015 and incorporate 2007 benchmark I-O data and 2012 regional economic data.
Last year, as a result of budget sequestration and reduced funding levels, BEA discontinued updates to RIMS II. Orders for RIMS II multipliers, however, have continued to be accepted because the cost of fulfilling these orders is covered by a nominal processing fee.
After investigating ways to continue to meet the analytical needs of our customers but do so at a lower cost to BEA, the bureau decided to make a modified economic model available. Until the modified model is available in 2015, customers may continue to buy RIMS II multipliers.

USCIS has updated Processing Time Information for the Immigrant Investor Program Office. Average processing times for EB-5 petitions as of 5/312014 were 13.2 months for I-526, 7.9 months for I-829, and 5.4 months for I-924 (the previous report showed 12.4, 8.7, and 4.4 months respectively). The USCIS Regional Center page explains that the estimated time for I-924 processing went way down last month because USCIS stopped including I-924A in the average (and due to increased efficiency).

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 6/24/2014 to 7/8/2014

  • RCI Arizona Regional Center, LLC (Arizona)
  • Encore California RC, LLC (California): encoreeb5.com
  • Front Burner Restaurants Regional Center – Southern California (California)
  • SoCal Regional Center, LLC (California)
  • EB5 Affiliate Network State of Florida Regional Center, LLC (Florida): www.eb5affiliatenetwork.com
  • EB5 Affiliate Network State of Nevada Regional Center, LLC (Nevada): www.eb5affiliatenetwork.com
  • Renewable Texas Energy Regional Center (Texas): texaseb5rc.com

Filed under EB-5 Resources, New RC

New RCs, New AAO decisions, I-924 checklist, RC project list

June 24, 2014 Leave a comment

A few recent items of note in EB-5-world.

  • USCIS has added a document enticingly titled “EB-5 Adjudication Manual” to the EB-5 section of the Electronic Reading Room for documents released in response to FOIA requests. I assume that the document was supposed to include all the materials used in an April 2014 two-week training course for new Investor Program Office Staff, but unfortunately it only gives us only the outline of that course (PDF page 123-126) and a lot of materials for Day 3 (a fairly uninteresting general introduction day). One bit of pay dirt in this file is a checklist for items to look for in an I-924 filing (PDF page 102). IIUSA, which made the FOIA request, is going back to request the full set of IPO training materials, which should be very useful.
  • I regularly get emails from people who found my Regional Center list and ask me about getting a list of Regional Center projects. My standard response is that such a list does not exist and probably couldn’t exist because it would be so hard to create and administer and so unlikely to be comprehensive enough or disinterested enough to be useful. But the proliferation of Regional Centers, many of which have no activity, intensifies the demand for someone to sort down to a short list of active investment opportunities, and I note that USAdvisors is attempting to meet that demand with the launch of its website  https://eb5projects.com. So far the site reports listing 306 projects, including from 101 Regional Centers and some direct EB-5 offerings.
  • USCIS continues to upload 2014 AAO decisions on EB-5 petitions. In my opinion the most significant are still the May 27th cases 01 and 02, which set a high bar for the level of “meaningful business activity” and “meaningful concrete action” that must have been undertaken prior to I-526 filing in order for funds to be considered at risk. Grounds for upholding denial in this case include the fact that the initial I-526 didn’t include documentary evidence of commitments for 100% of the funds (in addition to the petitioner’s) needed to fill out the capital stack (evidence submitted in response to RFE was not accepted as supporting eligibility at the time of filing), and the fact that the petition showed that the NCE had entered into service contracts but not that performance under those contracts had already occurred. USCIS seems to be taking an unreasonably hard line. Long processing times and use of escrow can mean that an investor files I-526 at least year before the NCE can expect to use the EB-5 funds. If the investment actually — as the EB-5 program intends — has a substantial role in launching the NCE’s new job-creating activities, then I-526s will naturally be filed at an early stage in business development before all details are confirmed, and the NCE will inevitably have limited activities prior to I-526 filing.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 6/10/2014 to 6/24/2014

 

Filed under EB-5 Resources, New RC

More AAO decisions and New RCs (CA, CO, DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, MD, MN, NJ, PA, PR, TX, WI)

June 9, 2014 1 Comment

AAO Decisions

USCIS continues to upload 2014 AAO decisions on EB-5 petitions (with the May 27th decisions being newly added as of today). Joseph Whalen has summarized highlights.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List, 6/3/2014 to 6/9/2014

Filed under EB-5 Law & Policy, New RC

4/30 IPO Processing Times, New RCs (AL, AR, CA, DE, FL, GA, IL, LA, MD, MI, NJ, NV, NY, OR, PA, TN, TX, USVI, WA)

June 3, 2014 Leave a comment

Today USCIS updated processing times for the Investor Program Office (IPO) as of 4/30/2014. Compared to the average times posted last month, I-526 times are one month better (now at 12.4 months), I-829 are about the same (now at 8.7 months), and I-924s went from 10.6 months to 4.4 months on average!

As I-924 processing speeds up, new entries continue to flood onto the USCIS list of approved Regional Centers.  But who is everyone? I now have all Year 2013 Regional Center approval letters thanks to an IIUSA FOIA request (watch for my analysis of them coming soon in IIUSA’s Regional Center Business Journal) and I can hardly wait for USCIS to get around to publicly posting that FOIA file so that I can include all the letters in my Regional Center directory.  In the meantime, please email me if you’d like to provide corrected contact information or a copy of your approval letter.  My Regional Center list page gets about 400 hits a week from countries around the world, so giving me info means some free advertising for you plus supporting my mission of increasing transparency in EB-5.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List 5/28/2014 to 6/2/2014

Filed under New RC

FY2014 Q2 EB-5 Petition Data, Material Change AAO Decisions, New RCs (AR, CA, CT, DC, FL, ID, IL, IN, MD, MI, NJ, NV, NY, PA, TN, TX, VA, WV, UT, WI)

May 27, 2014 Leave a comment

The USCIS Immigration and Citizenship Data page has been updated again with data for I-526 and I-829 Petitions processed in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2014 (January to March). Once again, here are my little charts illustrating how the numbers compare with previous quarters.
1526q2 I829q2
I-526 processing volumes show modest increase overall, but below last quarter’s spike and still nowhere near Mr. Colucci’s goal of having the number of processed petitions at least exceed the number of petitions received each week. I-829s, on the other hand, flew off the shelf in Q2 – maybe because they’re all the California EB-5 team has to work on as of February? We’ll see how the processing story continues to unfold in coming quarters.

USCIS continues to post 2014 Administrative Appeals Office decisions on EB-5 cases. APR232014_01B7203 and MAY122014_01B7203 are interesting as case studies of the much-misunderstood material change issue. People tend to panic that “material change” means that one can’t at any time deviate from any point of a business plan submitted to USCIS. The May 30, 2013 EB-5 Policy Memo and Matter of Izummi don’t say that, however. USCIS policy focuses on the period prior to I-526 approval and the problem of petitioners who, having filed an I-526 Petition that doesn’t demonstrate eligibility for EB-5 visa benefits, respond to Requests for Evidence with a new set of facts, materially changing the proposal under which the original petition attempted to qualify. The USCIS position is that the petitioner must demonstrate eligibility for the visa petition at the time filing, the petitioner cannot secure a priority date based on future events, and USCIS cannot consider facts that only came into being subsequent to the filing of the petition. For example, the petitioner in APR232014_01B7203 invested through a loan model with indirect job creation, which a non-Regional Center investor may not do, and then, in response to an RFE, tried to change track and present USCIS with a new and different business structure and investment terms. The AAO agreed that: “Purchase and termination of ___ in response to the director’s request for evidence in order to meet the direct job creation requirements reflects a material deviation from the business structure claimed at the initial filing of the petition. The business structure change constitutes an effort to make an apparently deficient petition conform to users and regulatory requirements. Therefore, users must analyze the petition only on the basis of the original claims.” In the MAY122014_01B7203 case, the petitioner’s problem was that “at the time of filing, he had invested only $105,000 and had not, at that time, properly committed the balance of the required investment with a secured note or agreement.” The moral of the material change story is to get your ducks in a row before filing an I-526 Petition. Don’t just throw something together and file it, assuming that the worst case scenario is that USCIS will send Requests for Evidence giving you a chance to go back and forth supplying new information and fixing problems until the petition is finally approvable. The worst case scenario is that the content of that original I-526 would need such material changes to become approvable that USCIS will say (to paraphrase): Forget it. This filing was crap, and if you have new facts and a new story now then you can go back to square one and file a new petition for us to consider. (For the official statement, see pages 24 to 27 of the EB-5 Adjudications Policy memo.)

The USCIS Regional Center list continues to expand by leaps and bounds, reflecting hard work by the USCIS Investor Program Office and adding to a crowded field. We’re continuing to see many multi-state RCs and many RCs associated with operators who control multiple RCs.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List 5/6/2014 to 5/27/2014

Filed under EB-5 Law & Policy, EB-5 Statistics, New RC

5/8 Colucci Remarks

May 20, 2014 Leave a comment

USCIS has published the Prepared Remarks of Nicholas Colucci, Chief, Immigrant Investor Program at the IIUSA EB-5 Regional Economic Development Advocacy Conference on May 8, 2014 in Washington, DC. Thank you, USCIS! We really appreciate this transparency. Now everyone can review exactly what Mr. Colucci said regarding economic impact analysis.

Filed under Updates from USCIS

FY2014 Q1 EB-5 petition data, new RCs (CA, FL, WA)

May 6, 2014 3 Comments

USCIS has posted EB-5 petition processing statistics for the first quarter of FY2014 (October to December 2013) on the Immigration and Citizenship Data page. I hope that the increasing volume of I-526 decisions reflects operational improvements, and not just California Service Center adjudicators hustling to get files off their desks ahead of the February 2014 hand-off to the new Washington DC Investor Program Office. In any case the I-526 trend is significant, with the number of approvals increasing by around 20% every quarter last year (and the total number of decisions up 41% between the last two quarters).  This is good news for processing times, and also an indicator that we’re accelerating toward the annual EB-5 visa cap. USCIS has cautioned before against reading much into the number of denials that happen to occur in any given quarter, but I’m still intrigued by the recent spike in denied petitions. It will be interesting to see how second quarter statistics look, with new staff handling I-526 and the CSC free to focus on I-829 petitions. I’ve visualized USCIS quarterly data in the following charts.

q12014I-526 q12014I-829

Meanwhile, the IPO is continuing to crank out I-924 decisions.

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List 4/29/2014 to 5/5/2014

I will be posting from the IIUSA annual meeting this week, and look forward to seeing you there.

Filed under New RC, Updates from USCIS

Regulatory changes, processing times, retrogression, ELIS, articles, new RCs (CA, CT, DC, FL, GA, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NY, PA, TX, VA, WV)

May 2, 2014 Leave a comment

Highlights of recent EB-5 activity:

  • Feedback on regulatory changes: On 4/23, USCIS hosted a “Regulatory Changes Listening Session” to solicit stakeholder input into the process of revising the EB-5 regulations, and invited the public to contribute additional suggestions through the USCIS Idea Community. You can get a recording of the listening session from IIUSA (post here) and log into the USCIS Idea Community any time through May 8 to provide your feedback and vote on suggestions made by others. Comments made so far include a few informed, constructive recommendations focused on the greater good and many that are either based on basic ignorance about what’s within the scope of regulatory changes or motivated by narrow interests such as trying to reduce competition or divert risk/responsibility or even shut down the Regional Center program entirely. I admit that I fall among those who are not motivated to offer disinterested input and take on some of the sheer hard work of drafting much-needed improvements to the current regulations. But I’m logged into the Idea Community and ready to vote for anyone who is so broadminded and generous with his or her time and expertise!
  • Processing times: USCIS updated IPO processing times (as of 3/31, posted 5/1) that show improvement overall, with 13.2 months for I-526, 8.9 months for I-829, and 10.6 months for I-924.
  • Retrogression: Mr. Charlie Oppenheim of the Department of State’s Visa Office is quoted as saying on April 21 that “retrogression for China EB-5 in the 2015 fiscal year [10/01/2014-09/30/2015] seems almost inevitable, as there are over 7,000 I-526 applications pending and 80% are from China.” For more detail, see “Update on EB-5 Visa Numbers” by Jennifer Hermansky. (For background on the retrogression issue, see FAQs on EB-5 Quota Backlog by H. Ronald Klasko.)
  • ELIS: Martin Lawler has written a useful account of his firm’s experience filing EB-5 petitions through USCIS’s new ELIS system. See “ELIS – Not the Island – Issues with Electronic Filing of I-526 Petitions” on the IIUSA blog.
  • Other articles: AILA and IIUSA have published a glossy report titled “Basic Background About the EB-5 Program” that can be used as an advocacy tool. The EB-5 Insights blog has a couple interesting posts by William Mack on Fee-based foreign finders and SEC/FINRA registration requirements and Suitability and AML Concerns for Broker/Dealers Engaged in the Offering and Sale of EB-5 Investments.

New Regional Centers

Additions to the USCIS Regional Center list 4/3/2014 to 4/28/2014:

Filed under EB-5 Law & Policy, New RC

New AAO Decisions, Processing Update, New RCs (AR, AZ, FL, MI, NM, PA)

April 4, 2014 1 Comment

New AAO Decisions
USCIS has started uploading AAO decisions to the folder for I-526 and I-829 Decisions issued in 2014. The decisions continue to show granular analysis of source of funds problems and continue to scold USCIS on the issue of deference in the wake of the 5/30/2013 EB-5 policy memo. Both FEB102014_01B7203 (a direct case) and FEB102014_02B7203 (a Regional Center case) appear from the AAO’s fact summaries to have been very faulty filings, yet the AAO nevertheless states that USCIS “did not properly deny the petition” because (in the direct case) “the director has not articulated to the petitioner in this matter why the business plan for the first investor was sufficient and the same business plan for the petitioner was insufficient or why deference was not applied to the petitioner’s business plan,” while in the Regional Center case: “the director never explained in writing, as an initial assessment, why the business plan, the business plan addendum, and the economic impact analysis filed in support of the instant petition were not due deference, either because of a material change in the underlying facts or otherwise.” Unfortunately for the direct EB-5 investor, the AAO still dismissed her appeal because her investment amount was $499,955, not $500,000, and therefore did not meet the threshold of a qualifying investment. A good reminder for all to pay attention to those bank fees.

Processing Times Update
An April 3rd update to USCIS Processing Time Information for the Immigrant Investor Program Office indicates that, as of 2/282014, USCIS was working on I-526 filed 5/18/2013, I-829 filed 4/9/2013, and I-924 filed 1/25/2013.

Regional Center Approvals
New Additions to the USCIS Regional Center List 3/19/2014 to 4/2/2014

Filed under EB-5 Law & Policy, New RC

What’s New (processing times, statistics, legislation, AAO deference decision, and new RCs in CA, FL, ME, NY, WA, WI)

March 21, 2014 1 Comment

Processing Times: As promised in the 2/26 EB-5 stakeholder meeting, a new section has been added to the USCIS Processing Time Information page. Now, instead of selecting “CSC – California Service Center” from the dropdown menu at the bottom of the page, select “IPO Processing Dates” button to see processing times for I-526 and I-829 (with I-924 promised to appear any day now). The news still isn’t good (indicating that as of January, IPO was working on I-526s filed April 2013 and I-829s filed May 2012), but at least it’s easy to check.

EB-5 Petition and Visa Statistics: This week USCIS updated its Immigration and Citizenship Data page with reports on I-526 and I-829 adjudications through Q4 2013. The stats show that USCIS made decisions on fewer EB-5 petitions overall in FY2013 than it did in FY2012, despite an increasing number of receipts. On the bright side, the second half of FY2013 had a significantly higher volume than the first half, particularly for I-526 adjudications, so we can hope for a continuing upward trend. On the dark side, pending petitions topped 7,000 for I-526 in 2013. For visa statistics, note that the State Department has reorganized its website, with the annual Report of the Visa Office from 2000 to 2013 now collected on one Visa Statistics page. To see the EB-5 visa numbers (itemized by Country of investor origin) for any year, open that year’s report and visit Section V. Part 3. For statistics related to the volume, use, and impacts of EB-5 investment, note that IIUSA has published a sneak peek of data highlights from the IIUSA-commissioned 2012 Economic Impacts Report, and will be featuring exclusive new program data in its forthcoming edition of the Regional Center Business Journal.

Legislation: The House is talking about EB-5 again, with a new bill proposed this month (The American Entrepreneurship and Investment Act of 2014) that would permanently authorize and make some modifications to the EB-5 program. See Laura Reiff’s post “House Member Introduces Bi-Partisan Immigration Legislation to Enhance and Augment the EB-5 Regional Center Program”

New AAO Decision: USCIS has uploaded another 2013 AAO decision (DEC302013_01B7203) on a Regional Center case in which “the AAO remands the matter to the chief for a new decision that explains its compliance with the May 30, 2013 Policy Memorandum.” The AAO found that “the chief did not explain why the economic impact analyses filed in support of the instant petition were not afforded due deference.” The decision requires USCIS to support its determination that deference is not warranted by providing examples of underlying change to material facts between the impact analyses supporting the approved Regional Center application and the denied I-526 petition. (See also SEP232013_01B7203, another deference-related decision on a different Regional Center case.)

New Regional Centers 3/6/2014 to 3/18/2014

Filed under EB-5 Law & Policy, EB-5 Statistics, New RC

New RCs (CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, MD, NC, NJ, NM, NY, OH, PA, PR, SC, TX)

March 7, 2014 Leave a comment

USCIS continues to expand its list of approved Regional Centers, with many of the new entries representing additional approvals for applicants already operating multiple RCs. The one new RC kind enough to post its approval letter was processed in only three months. I look forward to receiving contact information and approval letters for each of these new centers.

New Regional Centers at www.uscis.gov/eb-5centers 2/7/2014 to 3/5/2014

Filed under New RC

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