Investor Visa Application Price Increase

USCIS Changes EB-5 Investor Visa Application Form for Regional Center Applicants

USCIS has introduced a new EB-5 application form specifically for EB-5 Regional Center Applicants – henceforth to be known as Form I-526E.

The US Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) today issued a new EB-5 Investor Visa application form for Regional Center applicants – the I-526E Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor. Until now, both Regional Center and Direct EB-5 Visa applicants used the same form I-526 Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur. A revised Direct EB-5 application form is expected soon.

Applicants are advised to work with a licensed US attorney when preparing an EB-5 application. The attorney will ensure that you are using the correct form and can assist with documenting acceptable sources of funds. This will avoid any necessary delays or denials caused by administrative errors or inadmissible Sources of Funds. At Davies & Associates we have helped hundreds of families successfully move to the United States, and no client who has followed our advice has been denied an EB-5 Visa.

The I-526E, being focused on Regional Center EB-5, inevitably contains sections requiring more information of an EB-5 Visa applicant’s chosen Regional Center project. There are also additional questions about the investor, for example their net worth, that will likely also feature in any new Direct EB-5 application form.

Investors who have already submitted an I-526 for a Regional Center project and are awaiting adjudication need take no further action. USCIS does not require these applicants to re-submit an I-526E, but rather will adjudicate on the basis of an I-526.

However, any new applicants must use the new form. Failure to do so will result in the application being rejected. In such an instance, the applicant would need to refile, which means losing their position in the EB-5 processing queue at a time when demand is rising quickly. This can have a particularly serious impact on investors from countries in or near retrogression. We advise you to work with an experienced attorney to avoid unnecessary mistakes and delays.

The EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program is US permanent residency (Green Card) by Investment. The minimum investment requirement is $800,000 and this must create ten jobs. Each member of a qualifying family unit can obtain permanent residency through a single investment, but parents should plan carefully to avoid their children “ageing out” and requiring their own separate application.

Read more about EB-5 Visas.


This article is published for clients, friends and other interested visitors for information purposes only. The contents of the article do not constitute legal advice and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Davies & Associates or any of its attorneys, staff or clients. External links are not an endorsement of the content.


EB-5 Investor Visa

What is the Latest on EB-5 Investor Visa Reauthorization?

The EB-5 Regional Center program lapsed last summer pending reauthorization by the United States Congress. Potential reauthorization could come as early as this week if it is combined with spending legislation due to be passed before this Friday, 11 March.

If EB-5 Regional Center reauthorization is added to the spending bill, and if the spending bill is passed, the EB-5 program will return, but with likely new rules.

What are the likely new EB-5 rules?

The most significant change in a reformed EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program would be the investment amounts. The minimum investment requirement for EB-5 will increase to $800,000 in a Targeted Employment Area (TEA) and to $1,050,000 outside of these designated areas.

The program would also be reauthorized for five years, providing longer-term certainty for both investors and the industry as a whole.

Some visas would be reserved for certain investors, including 20 percent for those investing in a rural areas, 10 percent for those investing in areas of high unemployment, and 2 percent for those investing in infrastructure projects.

There are not yet any guarantees on this. This is the nature of the democratic process and we will keep you updated as soon as we find out more. The Direct EB-5 Visa option currently remains open at the $500,000 minimum investment level. However, the window for applying under the current terms is fast closing – presuming the legislation is enacted.

What is EB-5?

The EB-5 investor Visa offers a pathway to US Permanent Residency (a Green Card) via an investment that creates ten jobs. A qualifying family unit can each receive Green Cards under a single investment, but parents need to carefully plan to avoid their children “ageing out” of the process.

Many thousands of people have moved to the United States under the EB-5 Visa program over the past three decades. EB-5 has created hundreds of thousands of jobs and brought in billions of dollars of foreign investment at no cost to the American taxpayer.

This is an evolving situation, please keep checking our blog for more information. We will be holding as series of webinars on this subject as soon as the future of EB-5 becomes clear.

Click here to read more about the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program


This article is published for clients, friends and other interested visitors for information purposes only. The contents of the article do not constitute legal advice and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Davies & Associates or any of its attorneys, staff or clients. External links are not an endorsement of the content.