On Friday August 16, the Department of State (DOS) announced that all legally available visas for the Unreserved EB-5 categories have been used. The Department will continue to schedule appointments in August and September, but no new visas will be issued until FY 2025, starting on October 1, 2024. Many ARCFE investors from the Pre-RIA era have recently had their interviews scheduled. This further demonstrates the successful efforts by both the DOS and USCIS to enhance processing times and cut down on backlogs.
EB-5 SET ASIDE CATEGORY REMAINS "CURRENT"
Currently, all three set-aside categories for the EB-5 program are "CURRENT" for all countries. This status is expected to remain until at least mid-FY 2025 for Mainland China and the end of FY 2025 for India. Chinese and Indian investors can utilize this opportunity to begin the process of obtaining a U.S. Green Card by filing their EB-5 petitions.
Investors who are currently in the U.S. under a different visa category may also be eligible to file their I-526E petition concurrently with their I-485 Adjustment of Status package (which also includes form I-131 Advance Parole & I-765 Employment Authorization) to save time. By filing concurrently, investors and their families will have the freedom to work and travel without having to apply for additional visas, all while waiting for their petitions to be reviewed.
ARCFE GROUP 20 PROJECT WITH PRE-APPROVED I-956F OPEN FOR INVESTMENT
ARCFE Group 20 (Prince-Hilton Tower) seeks to raise funds from 50 investors. The project's I-956F has been approved by the USCIS, investors will immediately be eligible for I-526E processing, shortening their wait. 100% jobs for 50 investors have been created, providing safety for investors when they reach the I-829 Permanent Green Card stage. EB-5 capital is structured as loan secured with developer's equity and physical assets; with the LTV of EB-5 loan to total physical asset value at the safe mark of only 58%. The project qualified for HUA TEA and 10% EB-5 set aside visa category.
The Prince-Hilton Tower is a mixed-use building consists of 208 hotel rooms, 120 luxury condo units, 189 indoor parking spaces, ground-floor retail, and community activity space. The hotel will be managed by the Hilton Hotel & Resorts Group - the world's largest hotel management company, set to become a significant landmark in the area. The condos are available for public sale, with 15% already in contract.
READ THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DOS BELOW:
The State Department, working in close collaboration with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, is pleased to announce the issuance of all legally available visas in the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) unreserved category for fiscal year (FY) 2024. Maximizing these visas facilitates legitimate travel for investors who establish commercial enterprises that create employment opportunities throughout the United States.
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) limits the number of employment-based preference immigrant visas that may be issued within a fiscal year. Specifically, INA 203(b)(5) provides that the annual limit for EB-5 visas is 7.1 percent of the worldwide employment limit, of which 68 percent is available for unreserved visa categories (C5, T5, I5, R5, RU, NU). Additionally, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 specifies that unused EB-5 reserved visas from FY 2022 may be made available in the EB-5 unreserved categories for FY 2024.
Since all available EB-5 unreserved visas for FY 2024 have been used, embassies and consulates may not issue visas in these categories for the remainder of the fiscal year. The annual limits will reset with the start of the new fiscal year (FY 2025), on October 1, 2024. At that point, embassies and consulates may resume issuing immigrant visas in these categories to qualified applicants.
