IIUSA Met with USCIS to Speak About Current Developments in the EB-5 Industry

On October 5, 2018, representatives of the Invest in the USA (IIUSA) met with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services(USCIS), including the Director, Lee Cissna, and the Chief of the Investor Program Office (IPO) Sarah Kendall, to clarify some issues of current regulations, redeployment, and processing times/backlogs for the EB-5 program.

IIUSA mentioned certain areas of concerns for the industry, such as general lack of information which negatively effects the program’s integrity. USCIS, in return, spoke about current developments in the EB-5 industry, and the IPO performance.

Specifically, USCIS informed that the new regulations on the EB-5 modernization, which include an increase of the investment amount and reauthorization of the Targeted Employment Areas (TEAs), have not yet been finalized. In terms of redeployment, IIUSA spoke strongly about the need for USCIS to clarify its policy. According to USCIS, the industry stakeholders may submit suggestions on how to clarify the policy so that USCIS can respond to it by publishing details of the policy. As for the processing times and petition backlogs, USCIS informed that it has completed its additional staffing needs, which should allow the agency to adjudicate a higher number of EB-5 filings, including I-829, within the next year.

The complete transcript of the meeting can be accessed here.