As Fiscal Year 2026 nears its end, recent data from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) confirms a significant slowdown in EB-5 petition processing.
This decline first became visible between July and September 2025, when USCIS began processing fewer EB‑5 petitions and denial rates rose—even though the previous period had been unusually strong, with high productivity and low denial rates.
A year later, recent data show a significant shift in conditions. Between April and June, USCIS denied most of the pre-RIA I-526 petitions it processed. It rejected more standalone direct-investment I-526 forms than it approved. Additionally, it did not approve 25% of the I-526E regional center petitions reviewed during this quarter.
The data suggests that, despite continuing investor interest and stable petition submissions for the EB-5 visa—especially in rural projects—USCIS has not expanded its processing capacity.
Foreign investors submit Form I-526 to obtain a U.S. green card through investment. Three primary petition types exist: standalone (direct investment), regional center, and legacy.
Denial rates jumped, and processing slowed between April and June
The latest third-quarter figures for this fiscal year clearly show USCIS’s reduced EB-5 output. EB-5 application denials have surged, particularly for those applications submitted before the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) of 2022. The breakdown is as follows:
- Standalone I-526 forms (direct investments): 5 approved vs. 11 denied
- Legacy I-526 (pre-RIA applications): 17 approved vs. 80 denied (82% denial rate)
- I-526E (regional center investments): 687 approved vs. 217 denied (nearly 1 in 4 denied)
According to business plan writer Suzanne Lazicki, the latest numbers indicate that USCIS is implementing stricter reviews, approving fewer petitions, and falling behind on processing volume. “USCIS has the capacity to process many more petitions, the Department of State should be scheduling significantly more interviews than has been indicated so far, and there may be an increase in demand since June,” she wrote in her blog.
The slowdown started quietly in July 2025
To understand the origins of the slowdown, it helps to look back a year, when USCIS first showed signs of stress. This was evident through declining processing volumes, rising denial rates for pre-RIA I-526 forms, and an escalating backlog as the number of new petitions received exceeded the number of completed processes (where a form is processed, regardless of the outcome).
By September 2025, more investor petitions were submitted, yet fewer were processed than the previous year. This highlighted a trend of increasing denials, fewer completions, and a system starting to lag. During this time, EB-5 professionals first observed a decline in adjudications, and each quarter since has reinforced the trend seen in fiscal year 2026.
Looking ahead: What to expect for the end of fiscal year 2026
While the slowdown in EB-5 processing and the rise in denial rates do not signify instability in the EB-5 program, it does imply that EB-5 investors should:
– Expect longer processing timelines
– Select projects with robust compliance histories
– Remain informed as USCIS adjusts its internal review standards
As September marks the conclusion of the fiscal year and the “grandfathering” deadline for regional center petitions approaches, EB-5 investors and practitioners are increasingly concerned about USCIS’s ongoing slow processing. Q4 data is unlikely to show significant improvement, as USCIS has been cautious, processing fewer petitions and enforcing stricter review standards, particularly for older applications.
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