The January 2020 Visa bulletin is out today. The Final action date (FAD) for India has moved 4 months to May 1 2018 compared to Jan 1 2018 as per the December 2019 Visa bulletin. The FAD has moved very quickly in the last 5 months. When I met Charlie Oppenheim, the Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division at DOS, at the IIUSA EB5 Conference in Seattle, USA, he informally predicted that India FAD will become current in June/July 2020 Visa bulletin. This is great news for Indian EB5 investors as any Indian with an approved 526 can immediately apply for AOS/CP without any waiting period.
Although the Investment limit has gone upto $900,000 USD, now is still the best time to invest and get a green card through the EB5 process. EB2 & EB3 have a waiting time over 50 years and there is no promise that any of the bills that some Congressmen & Senators have been trying to pass will be successful. Variations of HR1044 & S386 have been introduced in Congress since 2011 and none of them have succeeded.
These are all the various bills introduced previously:
Bill – HR 3012 (2011) Result: Did not pass.
Bill S1857 (2011-12) Result: Did not pass.
Bill HR 633 (2013-14) Result: Did not pass.
Bill S293 (2013-14) Result: Did not pass.
Bill HR 213 (2015-16) Result: Did not pass.
Bill HR 392 (2017-18) Result: Did not pass.
Bill S281 (2017-18) Result: Did not pass.
We are entering 2020 now, and an entire decade has been wiped out waiting for one of these Bills to pass and become law. We have had both Republican & Democratic Presidents during this decade with congress and Senate having both majorities. But the end result has been the same: There is not much focus on Employment based Visas.
I get a lot of phone calls from investors asking about the EB5 visa, I always tell them, If you looking for better career opportunities and secure your families future, do whatever it takes to invest in an EB5 Visa and get that green card fast. Once your I-526 is approved, you have the chance to apply for an EAD/AP, and the EB5 EAD is different than the EB2/3 EAD, with the EB5 EAD, an investor and their spouse can work anywhere without any need for matching job descriptions or other limitations.
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