What happens if an EB-5 investor also applies for an E-2 visa?

To answer your questions, the hiring of an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney is essential. To obtain an E-2 visa, you will be required to have an unequivocal intent to return to your home country after your authorized E-2 status expires. Please note, under certain circumstances an E-2 status can be converted to an EB-5 status.

You may run into challenges, because the E-2 requires nonimmigrant intent (meaning you will leave the United States once the status is complete), and the I-526 is an immigrant petition.

20 months appears to be outside normal processing times for the I-526, and your attorney should be able to make a service request with USCIS and press for adjudication. It is unlikely that you may base an E-2 on EB-5 investment, unless it was a direct investment case for your I-526 and not investment through a project in a regional center.

If you have invested in a direct EB-5 project where your funds are invested in a business that you own, you will be able to use the same funds to qualify for an E-2 investor visa. Your I-526 petition will not be jeopardized by the E-2 application. However, since your filing of an I-526 immigrant petition clearly shows your immigrant intent, your E-2 application can be denied.

You cannot base E-2 on EB-5 unless it was structured as a direct investment it is unlikely that a regional center case could qualify. An E-2 should not be denied because of an I-526 filing. At 20 months, my guess is you should hear very soon.

Because E2 is a nonimmigrant visa, you will have a hard time getting that approved once you have expressed your intention to immigrate by filing the I-526. As 20 months is way beyond the normal processing time for I-526 adjudication, your attorney should be pressing USCIS to expedite your case every month. At least, his inquiries may prompt someone to review the case and issue a RFE if there is any further information needed. Just waiting in a queue without any further information after 20 months is not acceptable.

An E-2 application will not jeopardize your I-526 application, but the E-2 application would likely not be approved. E-2 visas are nonimmigrant visas, so your intent cannot be to stay in the country permanently. As you have a I-526 petition outstanding, the government will conclude that you have permanent intent and would likely deny the E-2 application.