On Wednesday (4/10), IIUSA sent a letter to USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas concerning the processing backlog and its detrimental impact to the success of the EB-5 Program. In the letter, IIUSA notified Director Mayorkas of its pool of over 500 WAC#s for backlogged I-526 petitions collected from Regional Center members all over the country, representing over $250 million in pure EB-5 capital formation. In this small sample, processing times range from five to over twenty plus months.
“The complete backlog of pending I-526 petitions, based on an analysis of USCIS FY2012 filing statistics, is nearly 4,000 – representing potentially $2.0 billion in capital formation that will result in the creation of over 40,000 American jobs – all at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.”
IIUSA reported its plan to continue to collect WAC#s in order to further monitor the backlog. The letter requested USCIS to demonstrate its commitment to responsive governance by implementing pro-economic growth administrative policies and by establishing consistent and more rapid processing times. Furthermore, the letter suggested increased stakeholder engagement to catalyze transparent policy development.
It turns out, IIUSA underestimated the problem. Further research into the issues brought us to the exact and staggering number of I-526 petitions pending at USCIS:
$2.9+ BILLION AND 50,000+ AMERICAN JOBS!
