(Source: Bernard Wolfsdorf) On Friday, April 22, Bernard
Wolfsdorf, Managing Partner of Wolfsdorf Rosenthal LLP, spoke on a panel at the
9th Annual EB-5 Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C. hosted by Invest in USA
with Mr. Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division
for the U.S. Department of State. During the panel, Mr. Oppenheim released
preliminary visa issuance data for the first six months of Fiscal Year 2016
(October 1, 2015 – March 31, 2016) on EB-5 immigrant visas.
1. Chinese nationals received 80.40% of the EB-5 immigrant visas issued in FY 2016 to date. This is down from 83.54% in FY 2015.
Ten Things I Learned
from Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division within
the U.S. Department of State during our IIUSA Panel on April 22, 2016
1. Chinese nationals received 80.40% of the EB-5 immigrant visas issued in FY 2016 to date. This is down from 83.54% in FY 2015.
2. South Korea is back in 2nd place with almost 3% (2.98%) of
EB-5 visas pushing Vietnam into 3rd place (1.64%). Vietnam had 2.86% of all
EB-5 immigrant visas in FY 2015.
3. In 4th place is Taiwan with 1.63% and Venezuela comes back
into top 5 with 1.03%. Venezuela was last in the top 5 in FY 2013.
4. The I5 EB-5 category, that is $500,000 Regional Center – TEA
cases continue to dominate the program constituting 95% of all EB-5 immigrant
visas issued in the first 6 months of FY 2016, compared with 98.2% in FY 2015.
5. The T5 EB-5 category, that is $500,000 Direct – TEA cases
increased to 3.08% of all EB-5 immigrant visas issued in FY 2016 to date,
compared with only 0.94% in FY 2015.
6. The C5 EB-5 category, that is $1m Direct, non-TEA increased
dramatically by 189% to 1.74% of all EB-5 immigrant visas issued in FY 2016 to
date, compared with 0.6% in FY 2015.
7. In FY 2015, 991 EB-5 Form I-485 Adjustment of Status
applications were filed, whereas, in the first 6 months of FY 2016 alone, 731
I-485s were filed. Adjustments are on pace to increase by 47% from FY 2015.
This is almost certainly because USCIS allowed EB-5 applicants to file Form
I-485 applications based on Chart B – Date for Filing – listed in the U.S.
Department of State Visa Bulletin for October and November 2015.
8. The May 2016 Visa Bulletin EB-5 cutoff date for China moved
forward again to February 8, 2014 (but only by 7 days from April 2016). The
June 2016 Visa Bulletin EB-5 cutoff date for China is estimated to be at
February 15. By the end of September 2016, the best case scenario is that the
China EB-5 cutoff date will have advanced to March 8, 2014, however, China EB-5
movement could be very slow and only advance to February 22, 2014.
9. An EB-5 investor with a priority date of March 21, 2014 will
likely be current for final interview scheduling on or about November 2016.
10. An EB-5 investor with a priority date of October 15, 2014
may not be current for final interview scheduling until well after August 2017.
