I am a German citizen and filed my EB-5 application in January. Given the COVID-19 situation and the newly released executive order, should I expect much delay in the processing of my EB-5 case?
Answers
Bernard P Wolfsdorf
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyI do not think you need to be worried-Covid-19 is not impacting I-526 adjudications and EB-5 is exempt from the latest 60-day ban.
A Olusanjo Omoniyi
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyYou should not experience any delay. Also, the EB-5 investors have essentially been exempted in the Presidential Order on immigrant visa holders.
Salvatore Picataggio
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyThe Executive Order actually exempted EB-5 immigrant visas from the suspension, so once your I-526 is approved, you can move forward with applying for your immigrant visas. Earlier this year, the policy for processing I-526 petitions actually changed to prioritize processing for applicants from countries without immigrant visa retrogression, so that should result in a reduction in processing times for Germans and others.
Vaughan de Kirby
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyThe order specifically exempts your EB-5 application and should, therefore, have no impact.
Charles Foster
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyYou could experience a brief delay due to temporary closure of American consular post abroad and some delays caused by CIS personnel adapting to the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.
Evelyn Hahn
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyTrump''s Presidential Proclamation specifically excluded EB-5, and therefore, the temporary restriction on certain immigrant visa classification does not apply to EB-5 petitioners. With respect to the processing time, it is true that the overall USCIS processing time for most immigration cases is now taking longer than usual. However, whether COVID-19 will delay the processing of your I-526 petition depends on how long the pandemic will last. At this point, the current processing time for the initial I-526 petition indicated on the USCIS website is 31 months to 50.5 months. If you just submitted your I-526 petition in January 2020, it is unlikely that your case processing time will be negatively impacted by COVID-19 since your case will still be within the normal processing time for the next few years.
Stephen Berman
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyNo. In fact, the recent travel ban most likely will speed up processing of employment-based visas and EB-5.
Fredrick W Voigtmann
Find an EB-5 Visa Lawyer: Immigration AttorneyThe executive order does not apply to EB-5. There likely could be some processing delays since USCIS is working remotely and experiencing mailroom delays due to minimal staff and physical distancing measures. It is impossible to predict the delay, if any, COVID-19 as a whole will have on your EB-5 case.
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