Demand for EB-5 investor visas by Chinese applicants exhausts annual supply
August 29, 2014
Immigration Law Alert
For the first time in the 25 years since the program was created, the maximum number of EB-5 green cards available to a particular country in a given year has been reached.
On Saturday, August 23, 2014, Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Department of State Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division, announced that effective immediately, the EB-5 green card category for investors is “unavailable” for Chinese applicants. This means that for the first time in the 25 years since the program was created, the maximum number of EB-5 green cards available to a particular country in a given year has been reached.
There is an annual limit on the number of green cards that can be issued in each green card category each year. Further, the percentage of each category that can be consumed by a particular nationality is limited. Due to high demand from certain countries, most notably China and India, lengthy backlogs have developed in several categories and citizens of these countries must often wait several years for a green card to become available to them.
Until now, applications by foreign investors in the EB-5 category have never reached the maximum, thereby allowing wealthy Chinese investors to avoid the significant delays in other green card categories through this program. However, demand for green cards in the EB-5 category has increased over 700% since 2007. With the majority of applications coming from China, it was only a matter of time before the annual limit for Chinese applicants was reached.
This news does not prevent new Chinese investors looking to secure green cards from participating in the EB-5 program. Investors can still file their I-526 Immigrant Petitions and should do so as soon as possible. However, once the Petition is approved, the current unavailability of immigrant visas for Chinese investors suggests that, as is true in other categories, a green card may not be available right away. Investors with children approaching the age of 21 should seek advice on their particular situation so that a determination can be made as to whether the child will still be eligible to receive a green card as part of the process.
沒有留言:
發佈留言