How do I verify if an EB-5 project is exemplar, actual or hypothetical?

The approval letter should state that, so I would ask the agency to provide you with a copy. Theoretically, the exemplar should get approved faster.

You may want to contact a specific regional center directly and ask for the information and copies of approvals to determine what the project is or hire an independent due diligence consultant. An approval of exemplar means an exemplar I-526 and business aspects of the project are pre-approved by USCIS and they will focus on your lawful source of funds issued in your I-526 petition, while giving deference to the project documentation included in your I-526 petition. It does not necessarily guarantee a faster approval of your I-526 petition, as they are approved in the order received. However, we have seen processing times under two months on exemplar cases. Please contact an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney with any further questions.

You can hire an EB-5 due diligence company to check the approvals, the project and the principals. As for an exemplar approval, it is valuable only in that the petitioner''s business plan should be afforded deference from the USCIS. As far as processing time before it reaches a USCIS adjudicator, it should not be any faster because the USCIS processes cases in the order in which they are received. An exemplar may avoid the issuance of a request for evidence by the USCIS on matters relating to the business plan, so in that sense, it might be approved faster than other projects that require additional evidence.

The quickest way to determine if the USCIS has approved the project and exemplar I-526 petition is to request from the regional center a copy of the approval letter from the USCIS. Based upon EB-5 policy, the USCIS should not readjudicate the project documentation and the exemplar approval should result in faster adjudication.

You may ask the regional center for a copy of the regional center designation letter issued by the USCIS. The USCIS letter may say whether an exemplar I-526 petition was included in the regional center designation. You can also email your question to the USCIS EB-5 program at this email address: uscis.immigrantinvestorprogram@dhs.gov. The exemplar process is supposed to make the I-526 process move more quickly, but USCIS processing times are so variable, it is no guarantee. Rather than focus only on the exemplar, you may want to select an EB-5 project based on these criteria: transparency, security, fairness, business risk, immigration risk and return of capital.

You should be able to contact the regional center directly and request copies of the approval notices. If the business-side of the project has been approved through multiple I-526 approvals or exemplar, the review process could be shortened, as USCIS only needs to focus on the investor side of documents - the Source of Fund documents. However, a prudent regional center representative should not be guaranteeing any particular time for such approvals, as they cannot control what USCIS will review and how long each case may take.

Hello. Ask them for the approval notice from United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Have the project write to you and tell you the exact nature of the project. You need full disclosure.

First of all, my recommendation is against going with a first-time project. No matter how good and expert the management of that project is, the first one always has some changes, perhaps, and problems, etc. The second one is much better because all the problems were resolved with the first one. Further, with regard to due diligence, you would need to ask your lawyer (NOT your agent) to do the due diligence for you. It would be the duty of the lawyer to explore, test, interview, analyze and complete a due diligence, and then report the results back to you so you can be fully informed about that project before making any investment.

An approved exemplar would be advantageous over having an approved hypothetical. An approved exemplar is in essence, an approved I-526 petition. Unfortunately, there is no third party that can verify if the project really does have an approved exemplar. However, I suggest asking the regional center for a copy of the approval notice. This should provide you with the information you are looking for.

The regional center''s approval notice and any approval notices for amendments (regional centers can be amended to add pre-approved projects, industry classifications and geography) would indicate if a project is included as a pre-approved or actual project. Ideally, an I-526 petition filed for a pre-approved project would be reviewed more quickly, but actual processing times cannot be predicted and will vary from case to case.