In November 2018, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in the case Zhang v. USCIS that USCIS’s “loan proceeds” policy was unlawful. According to this policy, investors who obtain their EB-5 investments from a loan qualify only if the loan is secured by their own personal assets. The Court ruled that this policy violates the plain language of USCIS’s regulations.
On January 31, 2019 in another case, Wang v. USCIS, another district court judge reached the same holding. The court concluded that cash from a loan qualifies as “cash” under the plain language of USCIS’s definition of “capital,” and that USCIS’s contrary policy is not entitled to deference. The court remanded the case to USCIS for the entry of a new decision.
Read the full rulings for both cases below:
