In September of 2022, IIUSA sent a letter to USCIS requesting a grace period on integrity fund payments required under the RIA due to the lack of guidance provided by the agency. At the time, IIUSA noted, “Implementing the RIA is a Herculean task, and we are grateful for your efforts and the time it takes. Notwithstanding ongoing work to bring the RIA fully to life, for now, it appears there is no guidance yet that provides clear instructions to regional centers as to how or where to provide this payment in a published form or other guidance.”
To date, the agency has still yet to provide final guidance to regional center operators on integrity fund payments; however, IIUSA received a response to its initial letter on January 17. In their response, the agency noted, “USCIS must collect a $20,000 or $10,000 fee, as directed by the RIA, for the EB-5 Integrity Fund from each designated regional center. USCIS anticipates publishing a Federal Register notice soon that will explain when and how the fee will need to be paid. As noted at the October 19, 2022, EB-5 National Stakeholder Engagement, USCIS will not charge a late penalty for payment of the regional center EB-5 Integrity Fund fee in 2022. USCIS will announce on uscis.gov when the Federal Register notice has been published.”
