How do I know which EB-5 Regional Centers have approved I-829s?

You will need to inquire with specific Regional Centers you are interested in investing into or have your immigration attorney inquire. Many Regional Centers make their approval rates for I-526 and I-829 petitions public to attract prospective EB-5 investors. Regional Centers established in 2007-2008 will most likely have approved I-829s given the applicable processing time frames for I-526s and I-829s. Regional Centers that are younger and established in 2010 or later will unlikely have I-829 approval statistics. It is important that you engage in due diligence in researching Regional Centers you are interested in investing into. There are about 6 Regional Centers that have approved I-829s. However, methodology for a current project or projects within a particular Regional Center may differ from its previous methodology for successful projects with approved I-829s. To that end, due diligence is important to verify how new projects may be similar to the successful ones with approved I-829s within the same Regional Center.

That is information you would have to get from the Regional Center. At this time the USCIS does not disclose that information.

Contact the regional centers or ask your attorney to obtain the I-829 track record for you.

This information is not currently public. In stakeholder meetings, USCIS officials have promised to make this information publicly available in 2013.

There is not an easy way to find out all of the Regional Centers that have approved I-829s. Any Regional Center established in 2011 or later will not have approved I-829s, and most if not all of the ones established in 2010 will not have approved I-829s either. This is due to the long processing times at both the I-526 and I-829 stages. One way and perhaps the best way is to ask the Regional Center directly. Some of them advertise their approval stats on their website and marketing material.

Since I-829 could be approved as early as 4-5 years from investment , some Regional Centers that had been established in 2008 or before could have I-829 approved and many pending for their early investors. There are 6 Regional Centers that have had I-829 approvals that I know about. They are the following:

• CMB Export, CA
• American Life Inc. Regional Center
• Seattle, WA (Golden Rainbow & Gateway Freedom Fund)
• CanAm Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) Regional Center
• California Agri-Growers, CA
• Jay Peake, Vermont
• EB-5 Capital, DC

However, most RCs have had several different projects since their inception and their business model could be different from project to project. Thus, I recommend you to do your research to verify how their latest project may be same/similar to the successful ones that had I-829 approvals and how they may be different.

As an AILA member, we always make a formal request to the EB5 regional centers that our clients are interested in to obtain the information of their I-829 approval record, including the cases filed, the cases approved and the cases denied, if any.

It is best practice to simply ask the Regional Center directly.

Check www.uscis.gov/eb-5centers.

To my knowledge, there is no listing of RCs with approved I-829s. I believe that approximately 6 to 10 now have approved I-829s.

Just ask the Center that you are interested or ask your attorney.

With regret, the government only publishes numbers of their approvals and denials of the regional centers, but not the specifics of which ones are successful and those which are not. We are hopeful that the move of the EB 5 unit to Washington DC will help improve the information flow and create more reliability and transparency.

You can ask them. Most publicize it.

You must research the approval ratings of the Regional Centers, bearing in mind that the I-829, which relates to the removal of conditional green card status, may be denied for a reason unrelated to the Regional Center, but rather related to the investor. If for instance, the investor has some sort of arrest record or other criminal history, the I-829 can be denied.

You do not know which Regional Centers have approved I-829s. You would need to ask your attorney to investigate for you.

You would pose that question to the regional center principals. Immigration matters are protected by the Federal Privacy Act, so there is no public record of approved I-829s.

The sad truth is that USCIS does not publish these statistics. What numbers there are would be based on self-disclosure by the Regional Center and perhaps redacted approvals. Very few centers have many of them. Jonathan Roth (google) has a self-reported list.

Remember that the I-829 requires proof the money was invested and the claimed ten jobs were created per investor. At this time, USCIS is trying to change the job counting rules and you may find that although prior I-829s for the same project were approved, USCIS may claim on later I-829s for the same project that the jobs have been counted by prior investors.

They typically list them on their website because it is good marketing for them.

You have to review their materials and/or contact them.