Visa Lawyer Blog
On December 3, 2012, USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas held a public engagement on the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Director Mayorkas provided updates on creation of the separate office for administration of EB-5 Immigrant Investor program.
The EB-5 program has spurred the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs and the injection of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy since Congress created the program in 1990. Interest in the EB-5 program has grown exponentially in recent years, both from domestic project developers seeking capital and foreign investors who have the capital that can fuel economic growth. In the recent years, EB-5 immigrant investor program has grown a lot.
In the fiscal year 2012, USCIS approved more than triple the number of petitions approved in Fiscal Year 2009. USCIS has met the unprecedented growth and interest with a corresponding dedication of resources.
Yesterday, Director Mayorkas has announced that in order to meet the needs of the EB-5 immigrant investor program, USCIS is planning to create a new EB-5 program office in Washington, DC that will be staffed with full-time economists, business and legal professionals and adjudicators with financial and economic expertise to address the complexities of the issues involved in EB-5 processing. USCIS has announced that it is planning to realign program responsibilities from other offices and will staff the new office with public engagement resources and fraud detection personnel for better administration of the program. The new office will report directly to the Deputy Director.
Director Maorkas indicated that the targeted timeframe to have that new office fully established and operational in about 4-6 months. USCIS has also indicated that establishment of the new office will shorten the processing times of I-526, Immigrant Petition for Alien Entrepreneur, to 90-120 days.
During the public engagement, Director Mayorkas has also announced USCIS’s continued efforts to dedicate its resources to improve the communication methods between the petitioners and the adjudicators to alleviate the need to issue multiple Requests for Evidence (RFE).
We will continue to provide updates on EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program once more information becomes available.