Questions & Answers

How will an EB-5 petition affect a filed family petition?

We have been waiting for four years for a visa for a family petition from our brother. Can we apply for EB-5 while waiting for another visa? If I apply to the EB-5 program, will I lose the other option?

Answers

• Ed Beshara

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on August 17, 2016

  The USCIS regulations and policies allow more than one immigrant petition to be filed and adjudicated.

• Xiaosheng Huang

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on August 12, 2016

  You can apply for the EB-5 visa at any time, and USCIS will allow you to choose which kind of green card you want to keep, and which one you want to drop.

• Salvatore Picataggio

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on July 22, 2016

  Multiple immigrant petitions can indeed be filed at the same time! Good luck!

• Fredrick W Voigtmann

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on July 11, 2016

  You can file the EB-5 petition and also maintain your family visa petition. One does not affect the other.

• Charles H Kuck

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 29, 2016

  There is no effect. You can have multiple immigrant petitions pending at the same time in different categories.

• Ying Lu

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 29, 2016

  Yes, you can apply under EB-5. It will not affect your pending family-based immigration.

• Charles Foster

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  Yes, you may separately file an EB-5 investor petition on Form I-526 while waiting for a visa through your brother. This is particularly important given the fact there is a backlog of at least 12 years under the 4th preference for visa petitions filed by U.S. citizen brothers or sisters. By filing a separate I-526 petition, you will not lose your 4th preference petition option through your brother.

• Michael A Harris, Esq

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  You can apply for both immigrant visa options. You will not lose the other options by seeking the EB-5 visa. This is a common practice in other immigrant visa programs. For example, there are many individuals who have an approved EB-3 petition, but due to lengthy waiting times on the monthly visa bulletin, some individuals will try to seek an EB-2 immigrant petition in order to potentially shorten the waiting time.

• Bernard P Wolfsdorf

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  You can file under several categories at the same time. One will not adversely impact the other.

• Raymond Lahoud

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  If your brother is prepared to make the investment and work to meet the necessary requirements of an EB-5 visa, then, indeed, he could apply. One would hope that you will get the EB-5 approved and you would not have to worry about the family-based petition. Should the EB-5 application fail, however, you need not worry about losing the family-based priority date.

• Ian E Scott

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  You can apply for multiple green cards at the same time, so this will not impact your I 526 petition.

• A Olusanjo Omoniyi

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  You can file the EB-5 petition while another immigrant visa petition is pending. However, bear in mind that by filing the EB-5 petition, you are making a financial commitment to go through the process and the cost is substantially higher than a family immigrant petition. If the EB-5 petition is successful and faster, you can certainly withdraw the family immigrant visa petition.

• BoBi Ahn

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  There is NO EFFECT on the family-based petition when you process for the EB-5 immigrant investor petition (I-526) - or vice versa. As soon as either of the petitions is approved and the priority date current, you should opt to process the last steps of the "green card" processing based on which of the two gets processed faster.

• Stephen Berman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  Filing an EB-5 does not terminate any other visa petition filed on one's behalf.

• Peter Zhang

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on June 28, 2016

  No you will not. You may file an EB-5 in your case.