Mark A Ivener, A Law Corporation

Category: EB-5


China EB-5 Category Unavailable Through September; Current in October

The Department of State’s Visa Office announced that the China employment-based fifth (EB-5) category became unavailable on August 23, 2014, and will remain unavailable for the remainder of fiscal year 2014. The category will again become current on October 1, 2014. The Department noted that all China EB-5 applicants who have been scheduled for an… Read More

EB-5 Visas are Unavailable to Chinese Immigrants until FY 2015

On August 23, 2014, the Chief of the Department of State Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division announced that the EB-5 preference category had become unavailable for Chinese applicants. For the first time since the EB-5 program was created, the annual maximum number of EB-5 immigrant visas available to Chinese applicants has been reached. EB-5… Read More

Proposed Legislation Seeks to Extend EB-5 Visa and Eliminate Country Caps

In May 2014, Congressman Aaron Schock and Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard announced bipartisan legislation pertaining to the EB-5 visa program. They propose permanently extending the EB-5 program and eliminating the current country caps. The bill, H.R. 4659, was assigned to a congressional committee which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or… Read More

USCIS Holds Teleconference With EB-5 Stakeholders

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) held a teleconference on February 26, 2014, with EB-5 stakeholders. Nicholas Colucci, the new director of USCIS’s Immigrant Investor Program Office, led the teleconference. Among other things, USCIS said that it is now adjudicating I-924 regional center petitions and I-526 alien entrepreneur petitions in the Washington, DC, field office,… Read More

DHS OIG Report on EB-5 Regional Center Program Stirs Controversy

The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a controversial new report on the EB-5 regional center program that includes four recommendations. OIG report highlights. As background, Congress enacted the employment-based fifth preference (EB-5) green card category in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through direct job creation and capital investment… Read More