U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) seeks comments on proposed revision of currently approved collection of information for the EB-5 Regional Center Program.
The agency is specifically looking for comments on Forms I-526 and I-526E. The two forms were created by USCIS to address the reformed and reauthorized EB-5 regional center Program and direct EB-5. Form I-526 is now the Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, and Form I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor.
The creation of two seperate forms in the agencies opinion will better streamline the adjudication process for Standalone Investors and Regional Center Investors; specifically, Form I-526 will be used by a Standalone Investor and Form I-526E will be used by an investor pooling their investment with one or more qualified immigrants under the new EB-5 Regional Center Program to petition for status as an immigrant to the United States under section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration Nationality Act (INA), as amended.”
USCIS has already begun to accept Form I-526 and I-526E and now seeks public comment on “the nature of information collection, the categories of respondents, the estimated burden ( i.e. the time, effort, and resources used by the respondents to respond), the estimated cost to the respondent, and the actual information collection instruments.”
This is a 60-day comment period. All comments are due by October 24, 2022.
From the Federal Register:
You may access the information collection instrument with instructions or additional information by visiting the Federal eRulemaking Portal site at: https://www.regulations.gov and entering USCIS-2007-0021 in the search box. All submissions will be posted, without change, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov, and will include any personal information you provide. Therefore, submitting this information makes it public. You may wish to consider limiting the amount of personal information that you provide in any voluntary submission you make to DHS. DHS may withhold information provided in comments from public viewing that it determines may impact the privacy of an individual or is offensive. For additional information, please read the Privacy Act notice that is available via the link in the footer of https://www.regulations.gov.
Written comments and suggestions from the public and affected agencies should address one or more of the following four points:
(1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;
(2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
(3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and
(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology,e.g., permitting electronic submission of responses.
