By Marta Lillo
The January 2024 visa bulletin released by the State Department shows significant jumps in final action dates for filing applications for EB-5 investors.
It is the first time the dates have moved since October.
For Chinese investors, the final action date for EB-5 green card applications progressed three months to Dec. 5, 2015, from Oct. 1, 2015. Meanwhile, the final action date for Indian EB-5 investors jumped two years to Dec. 1, 2020, from Dec. 15, 2018.
Also, final action dates for EB-5 investors from countries other than China and India remain current, so they don’t face backlogs.
The State Department has explained that final action dates across most employment-based visa categories, including EB-5, usually jump when visa numbers are available for the next fiscal year.
The fiscal year 2024 began on October 1, 2023, and it is expected to be a profitable year for investors who apply for the EB-5 visa. More than 20,000 visas are projected to be available for this program. The increase in visa availability is mainly due to carryover provisions since the Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA). Therefore, reserved EB-5 visas from FY 2022 that weren’t used that year or in FY 2023 were passed on as unreserved for 2024. Additionally, reserved visas from FY 2023 that weren’t utilized were also carried over to the current fiscal year.
EB-5 dates for filing remain the same
Meanwhile, the dates for filing an EB-5 petition for Chinese and Indian applicants remain Jan. 1, 2017, and Apr. 1, 2022, respectively, the same since October. Also, all countries’ dates are current for the new set-aside categories.
These dates indicate when investors can submit their necessary documents to the National Visa Center.
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