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Questions and Answers > Other Eb-5 Questions

Could I experience any delays in my EB-5 visa process as a result of the Trump Immigration Ban and COVID-19?

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?

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Answers

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    A Olusanjo Omoniyi

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    You should not experience any delay. Also, the EB-5 investors have essentially been exempted in the Presidential Order on immigrant visa holders.

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    Bernard P Wolfsdorf

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    I 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.

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    Fredrick W Voigtmann

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    The 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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    Evelyn Hahn

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    Trump''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.

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    Charles Foster

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    You 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.

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    Stephen Berman

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    No. In fact, the recent travel ban most likely will speed up processing of employment-based visas and EB-5.

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    Vaughan de Kirby

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    The order specifically exempts your EB-5 application and should, therefore, have no impact.

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    Lynne Feldman

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    I would not expect any.

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    Salvatore Picataggio

    Immigration Attorney
    Answered on

    The 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.