Bullet Points from Last EB-5 Stakeholders Meeting

As you no doubt have heard by now, the last meeting with USCIS’ EB-5 team was a big disappointment for the hundreds of folds physically present and listening at home. Here are few statistical tidbits worth reporting, as relayed by Steven Yale-Loehr in Miller Mayer’s latest newsletter:

According to the latest EB-5 program statistics based on preliminary data for the second quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2012:

• USCIS received 2,771 I-526 (Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur) petitions and had approved 2,101 and denied 384 so far. This was an 85 percent approval rating, compared to an 81 percent approval rating for all of FY 2011 and an 89 percent approval rating for all of FY 2010.
• As of the second quarter of FY 2012, USCIS had received 375 I-829 (Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions) petitions and had approved 522 and denied 24 so far. This was a 96 percent approval rating, matching a 96 percent approval rating for all of FY 2011 and exceeding an 83 percecnt approval rating for FY 2010.

Despite these nice numbers, word is that new Regional Center applications are getting denied at a “higher than ever” rate, to paraphrase a USCIS contact who declined to be identified.

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