On December 5th, 2014, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) held a Stakeholder Engagement Meeting discussing important and contemporary issues regarding the EB-5 Immigration Investor Program. The Meeting allowed individuals to attend in-person and by phone, and allowed individuals to ask questions, as well as receive answers to pre-selected questions. Approximately 50 people attended the meeting in-person and 500 individuals participated by phone.
In attendance from the government included the USCIS Director León Rodríguez, EB-5 Chief Nicholas Colucci and other top EB-5 officials, who spoke at the beginning of the conference and provided the following interesting facts:
- Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 represented approximately $5.5 billion in potential investment funds.
- There are approximately 600 approved Regional Centers, 230 of which were approved in FY 2014.
- 11,000 I-526 petitions were filed in FY 2014 (72% increase over FY 2013).
- Those 11,000 I-526 petitions represent over 25% of all petitions ever received by USCIS since the inception of the Program in 1990.
- As a result of these increases, the Program used up its allocation of approximately 10,000 visas, which became unavailable toward the end of FY 2013.
- The 11,000 I-526 petitions represent approximately $5.5 billion in potential investment.
- USCIS received 2,500 I-829s (106% growth).
- Compare these figures to those from 2007, at which time there were only 11 active regional centers. USCIS received less than 800 I-526 petitions, and less than 200 I-829 petitions.
- USCIS terminated seven regional centers for failure to file Form I-924A, and issued 28 Notices of Intent to Terminate (“NOIT”) to regional centers.
Photo: Roger Sayles
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