Questions and Answers > EB-5 Investments

With an EB-5 I-526 pending, is it possible to apply for an E-2 visa?

My current status is F1 but this visa is ending, and my I-526 has no deadline for an outcome. Is it possible to apply for the E-2 (I''m an Italian citizen too) and get approved? Or is it likely that USCIS will see a conflict of interest in the E-2 nonimmigrant petition after I did a I-526 petition?

Answers

• Salvatore Picataggio

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 11, 2022

  The I-526 petition by itself may be OK in the eyes of USCIS (the consulates...maybe not). An I-526 approval does not give you any immigration benefit until you apply for a green card.

• Julia Roussinova

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 9, 2022

  It is possible to get E-2 approval with a pending I-526, especially if you indicated consular processing in your I-526 petition whereas an immigrant visa issuance is predicated on successfully going through the consular process. We have had multiple approvals.

• F Oliver Yang

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 8, 2022

  It is possible (we have many clients who successfully obtained E-2 approval with a pending/approved I-526), but you will have to address this issue carefully.

• Bernard P Wolfsdorf

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 8, 2022

  The good news is unlike some other nonimmigrant visas, an applicant for an E visa need not establish intent to proceed to the United States for a specific temporary period, nor does an applicant for an E visa need to have a residence in a foreign country which the applicant does not intend to abandon. The applicant may sell his or her residence and move all household effects to the United States. Their expression of an unequivocal intent to depart the United States upon termination of E status is normally sufficient. In your case as an applicant who is the beneficiary of an immigrant visa petition, you will need to satisfy immigration that your intent is to depart the United States at the end of your authorized stay and you will not stay in the United States to adjust status or otherwise remain in the United States. It does leave upon the ability to apply for an immigrant visa abroad as they do not want you to apply to adjust status while in the U.S.

• Belma Demirovic Chinchoy

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 8, 2022

  We have had many E-2s approved and/or renewed after I-526s were filed.

• Lynne Feldman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 8, 2022

  This should work if you selected consular processing in the I-526.