China Employment Fifth (EB-5) preference category has become “Unavailable” for the remainder of FY 2014
Chicago, IL – August 23, 2014
Effective immediately Saturday, August 23, 2014 the China Employment Fifth (EB-5) preference category has become “Unavailable” for the remainder of FY-2014. This action is necessary because the maximum level of numbers which may be made available for use by China EB-5 applicants during FY-2014 has been reached.
Department of State processing: The establishment of a monthly cut-off or “Current” status for a numerically controlled preference category applies to those applicants who were reported documentarily qualified prior to the determination of cut-off dates and allocation of visa numbers that month. Therefore, all China EB-5 applicants who have been scheduled for interview at an overseas post based on the original establishment of the August and September cut-off dates would have been allocated visa numbers for potential use by their case. Such applicants will not be impacted by the “Unavailability” of the China EB-5 category for the remainder of FY 2014. In this context, “Unavailability” means that no additional numbers are available for “comeback” cases originally scheduled for interview in an earlier month who are just now returning, or for those first requesting an interview. The only exception would be if a post had “otherwise unused” numbers available, because applicants either failed to appear or failed to overcome a refusal during the month (i.e. August or September) of originally scheduled interview.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processing: USCIS Offices may continue to accept and process China Employment Fifth preference cases and submit them in the normal manner. However, instead of being acted upon immediately, those cases will be held in the Visa Office’s “Pending Demand” file until October 1, 2014. At that time, all eligible cases will be automatically authorized from the “Pending Demand” file under the FY 2015 annual numerical limitation. Each USCIS requesting office will receive an e-mail notification of such authorizations, which will be effective immediately.
Charles Oppenheim, U.S. Department of State, Chief, Immigrant Visa Control and Reporting Division
IIUSA to Address Visa Cut-off Implications at September Trade Mission to China
The reality of the visa limit being reached in FY2014 for China leads to an inevitability of retrogression in FY2015 if changes are not made by Congress to current EB-5 statute which place limits on the number of visas allotted per country or increases the annual allotment.
IIUSA will address implications of the visa cutoff and retrogression scenarios for FY2015 at its trade mission to the China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) from September 6-10 in Xiamen.
Read IIUSA VP Robert C. Divine’s Comments on EB-5 Visa Unavailability for China for Remainder of FY-2014
Saturday’s dramatic announcement of EB-5 visa unavailability for China for the remainder the fiscal year provides a low impact “dry run” for a process that will have more “bite” next fiscal year. (For the record, Saturday was August 23, 2014).First, let’s remember what Saturday’s announcement does NOT do: It does not affect any I-526 or I-829 processing at all, does not delay immigrant processing for people not born in mainland China, and does not even affect mainland Chinese after next month. But let’s think about what it portends. To Continue Reading, Click Here.
