Does USCIS pay on-site visit to EB-5 direct investment businesses?

Not common, but USCIS does make site visits.

Sometimes and usually no advance notice.

Site visits are not planned or announced. USCIS can visit at any time. In my experience, filing of an I-485 or I-829 tends to trigger a visit.

Generally, USCIS does not pay on-site visits to projects.

Site visits are less common for I-526 cases but can be conducted at any time the government suspect fraud. If they do a site visit, USCIS rarely provides advance notice.

The answer is Yes. We have experienced this first hand and you and your investment immigration attorney should be prepared for this to occur.

While it is not common for USCIS to conduct site visits during the I-526 processing stage, USCIS does conduct site visits on occasion, both announced and unannounced, depending on what type of information is requested by the adjudicating officer. This could be for I-526 or I-829 processing. USCIS also conducts site visits for other nonimmigrant and immigrant petition processing from time to time. The adjudicating officer will have a suspicion or actual information calling into question one or more facts regarding the I-526 petition. The officer then contacts the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate, who either conducts the site visit directly or works with contracted investigators or other U.S. law enforcement agencies to obtain the information for the adjudicating officer to complete the processing of the petition.

Site visits have become more common, though it is still pretty rare overall. Notice is often not provided, however, many times the investigating officer will leave a list of things they want to see and arrange to come back. These visits can come during or after I-526 processing. It is best to help your staff understand what could happen and to be prepared with some details on the business and investment.

Yes, it is possible.

I have never known them to make a site visit. But it is not impossible.