USCIS Intends To Create A Dedicated EB-5 Program Office

Dear Stakeholder,

I am pleased to announce that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be creating a new office to oversee our administration of the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program.

The EB-5 program has spurred the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs and the injection of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy since Congress created the program in 1990. Interest in the EB-5 program has grown exponentially in recent years, both from domestic project developers seeking capital and foreign investors who have the capital that can fuel economic growth. USCIS has met this unprecedented growth and interest with a corresponding dedication of resources.

USCIS has approved more than 3,100 Form I-526 petitions in Fiscal Year 2012 to date, more than triple the number approved in all of Fiscal Year 2009. Since 2009, we have quadrupled the size of the EB-5 adjudications team and brought on board eight expert economists dedicated to the EB-5 program to ensure that EB-5 cases are handled expeditiously and with appropriate expertise. In the next month, two full-time attorneys with substantial transactional experience will enter on duty as new additions to the USCIS EB-5 program team.

And by the end of July, a special Review Board consisting of two Supervisory Immigration Services Officers and one economist will review every pending application for regional center designation for which a denial has been recommended, with applicants receiving the opportunity to discuss their cases in-person before any final adverse decision is
rendered.

By now creating a dedicated program office, we will build on these steps toward ensuring that this important and complex program is appropriately resourced and managed under a single leadership structure.

I am also excited to announce that the new office will be led by a new Chief of Immigrant Investor Programs, and that an advertisement for this new leadership position will be posting today. Our new program chief will have significant experience in the business world and will assume responsibility for ensuring that the program is administered efficiently, with integrity, with predictability, and with an understanding of today’s business realities.

We understand that more work needs to be done to further improve our administration of the EB-5 program. We are committed to this work. USCIS welcomes and appreciates your input as we stand up our new EB-5 Program Office.

Thank you.

Alejandro N. Mayorkas
Director
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services