USCIS ANNOUNCES INFORMATION REGARDING EB-5 REGIONAL CENTER AUDITS
On April 9, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it must audit each designated regional center at least once every five years. This audit will include a review of any documentation required to be maintained by the regional center and a review of the flow of immigrant investor capital into any capital investment project.
This change stems from the new provisions added by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) to the Immigration and Nationality Act.
At any point during a site visit in connection with an audit, if the regional center representative expresses an unwillingness to participate in the site visit, USCIS will cancel the visit. USCIS will complete the audit report using the data available and indicate that they canceled the site visit at the request of the regional center.
If a regional center chooses not to consent to an audit or deliberately attempts to impede the audit, USCIS will terminate the regional center’s designation. USCIS may consider noncompliance with a site visit to mean nonconsenting to an audit.
Except when a regional center does not consent to an audit or deliberately attempts to impede an audit, there are generally no direct adverse consequences to an EB-5 associated entity or petitioner solely because of the negative audit result. However, USCIS may use our findings to evaluate a regional center’s continuing eligibility to remain designated as well as compliance of associated applications, petitions, or other filings with applicable requirements.
Starting April 23, 2024, USCIS will generally use Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards, also known as the Yellow Book, when USCIS audits EB-5 regional centers. The Yellow Book provides standards and guidance for auditors and audit organizations. Generally using the Yellow Book standards does not remove the officer’s discretion in considering the results of the audit in connection with making adjudicatory decisions.
To learn more about the EB-5 audits, visit the USCIS webpage.
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