I am a mainland China-born EB-5 investor. My I-526 petition has been approved. Due to the backlog, I have to wait many years to get my conditional residency. Recently I met a girl who is a Korean. We plan to get married soon. Can we accelerate my EB-5 application? What are the procedures?
Based upon cross-changeability immigration law provisions, and the fact your wife was born in a country that does not face retrogression, you will be able to immediately file your application for conditional petition residency upon approval of the I-526 petition.
Provided you do not marry a national also subject to the backlog, and provided you plan to apply together, you both can get out of the waiting line.
Yes, you can take advantage of the country cross-chargeability rule to use your would-be spouse's country of birth (Korea) to accelerate your EB-5 immigration to the U.S.
For visa backlog, the place of birth controls. If that girl was born in Korean and you two get married, you will be able to file your I-485 if you are in the U.S. with a valid non-immigrant status, or DS-260 if you are outside of the U.S. This is called cross-chargeability.
If you have a bona fide marriage to an individual born in a country other than the People's Republic of China, as a Chinese national, you would not be subject to the Chinese quota but you could cross-charge to the quota of your spouse. Given the fact that there is no backlog for Korean nationals, once your EB-5 petition on Form I-526 is approved, both of you would be immediately eligible to apply for your immigrant or visa abroad or for adjustment of status, if you're within the United States.
Yes! You can accelerate your EB-5 application through the cross-chargeability rule as long as she was born in Korea. Korea is not experiencing retrogression now, so you would certainly benefit from your future wife's nationality.
I presume EB-5s are subject to the normal rules of cross-chargeability. If so, and if your spouse was born in a country with no backlog, you would become eligible to file for adjustment.
Your (future) spouse's place of birth matters. Assuming she was born in SK, in processing your visas, you can be placed in Korea category - which currently has no backlog - through a process called cross-chargeability.
Yes, if you file with your Korean wife as the principal applicant and you as the dependent. That would allow you to skip the mainland China backlog.
The country of chargeability regulations allow for usage of the country of birth of the main applicant (the petitioner) or the country of birth of the applicant's spouse, but not the children. Your marriage to a Korean-born person will definitely accelerate your EB-5 case because the immigrant visa number will be charged to Korea (your spouse's country of birth) and not to China. There is a significant backlog of available immigrant visa numbers for China-born applicants, but Korea is included in the "rest of the world" category, which has ample supply of immigrant visa numbers available to meet the demand.
Yes, that will accelerate your petition because you can cross-charge to her country of birth for the final immigrant visa stage.
Your immigration lawyer should be able to guide you through this. When you get married, you will have to notify the NVC of the fact and based on cross-chargeability, request the fee bill to start the visa process.
This would not accelerate an existing I-526. One alternative is to discuss with your investment immigration lawyer withdrawing your I-526 and investment, then making a new investment and filing a new application in your wife's name. Only take any action under the direction of your attorney.
Since your I-526 petition has been approved, it is too late at this point for your new spouse to help accelerate your EB-5 petition.
You may be able to take advantage of cross-chargeability and use the Korean visa availability. Discuss your options with an immigration attorney.
After marrying your Korean spouse, you can use "cross-changeability" to her nationality in processing for both of your immigrant visas. You would need to notify the National Visa Center to proceed accordingly.
