The EB-5 Visa investment program has been around since 1990. For the first 24 years, it wasn’t widely popular. For the first time, in 2014, the full quota of 10,000 EB-5 visas per year were fully utilized. But ever since 2014, the demand for the EB-5 visa has skyrocketed. Chinese citizens have flocked to the EB-5 visa program in droves and have now built up a substantial backlog in the program. Almost 30,000 EB-5 applications are pending at USCIS as of date and almost 85% of the applications are from Chinese citizens. Unfortunately, due to the per country restrictions of the US Visa program, only 7% of EB-5 visas can be allocated in any year to each country. So, the wait for China born applicants has now grown beyond 5 years.Vietnam has also joined the waitlist now, as the quota of available EB-5 visas for Vietnam citizens has already been fully utilized in FY2018.
On April 23, 2018, at the IIUSA Conference in Washington, D.C, Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Controls Office at the US Department of State has shown that demand from Indians for the EB-5 visa has grown exponentially as 580 Indian origin EB-5 petitions were received at the National Visa center (NVC) during the period April 2017 to March 2018 as compared to an year before when 180 EB-5 petitions were received. That is a staggering rise of 222% in EB-5 petitions received by NVC in just one year for Indians.
It is not surprising that so many Indians are showing interest in the program. Most of the Indians who are on H1B visas are looking at a really long wait time for their EB-2 & Eb-3 visas to be processed. The current wait time is predicted anywhere from 30 years to 80 years according to some wild estimates.
We have also seen an uptick in Indian resident investors since 2016, quite a few people from India are applying directly from India in expectations of a better life for their families and children.
As more and more Regional centers are now zeroing in on India as the next China opportunity, it is very common now to see Regional Center representatives flying to India every month and setting up EB-5 seminars and info sessions in various cities of India.
Currently, there are over 800 Regional Centers that are registered with the USCIS and more are getting signed up every day. How will the average EB-5 investor select the right project, when there is so little information available about the program and the projects that are vying for the investors monies.
We at EB5 Info & Updates cannot Emphasize this enough, but having someone experienced in your corner is very very important when you are going through your EB-5 Process. The Regional Center, The project, USCIS Rules & Regulations, Your source of funds documentation paperwork preparation with your lawyer, There are so many things to keep track of and follow up with.
Before you choose your lawyer or your regional center and wire them your money, You will need expert guidance.
We will email you the Complete EB-5 Process document which explains each and every step of the EB-5 process. It also details the current EB-5 Processing times, wait times, USCIS source of funds stipulations, Top Regional Centers by Subscription numbers, ongoing current legislations that can impact the EB-5 program.
Leave a Reply