How are the visa limits determined for the EB-5 category?

EB-5 immigrant visas are limited by the EB-5 law Congress passed in 1990. All employment-based and family-based preference immigration is subject to limits. For EB-5, the annual limit is 10,000 immigrant visas (currently counted as the investor, spouse and any dependent children) per fiscal year. There is a set aside of 3,000 immigrant visas (at a minimum) for regional center EB-5 immigrant visas. Also, no single country can use up more than 7.1% of the available immigrant visas, but any unused immigrant visas (i.e., if no other country uses up at least 7.1%) can "flow up" to a single country using more than 7.1%. For example, China was able to use 85% of the available EB-5 immigrant visas in 2014 because no other country was close to the 7.1%. As for the rest of Fiscal Year 2015, the U.S. Department of State has estimated that that an immigrant visa number cut-off (retrogression) will be necessary no later than July 2015 for China-born applicants. For the rest of the world, there has been no such announcement, so it is likely that persons born in Mexico and Brazil will not be affected; they will have EB-5 immigrant visa numbers available or "current" for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The latest data anticipates a backlog beginning in May or June for China. But, there is no way to know for sure. Understand that the visa limitations are for filing for permanent residence - not for filing I-526 applications, which take 6-18 months to process. Mexico and Brazil should not have problems with this cap, anyway.

The EB-5 visa quota of 10,000 per year applies to the conditional permanent residency visas being approved for the investor and their family members. This quota does not apply to the limitless number of I-526 petitions that can be filed by each EB-5 investor.

It is likely that the EB-5 limits will remain current for all countries except for China.

I would expect Mexico and Brazil to be fine, but not PR China.

There are 10,000 visas allotted annually for the EB-5 visa category. A certain percentage of this quota is allotted to investors from different countries. Only the quota for Chinese investors has ever been met, and this happened for the first time last year. The quota for Mexican and Brazilian nationals is not expected to be exhausted.

There are 10,000 visa numbers available for the EB-5 category per each Fiscal Year, which is from October 1 to September 30. In Fiscal Year 2015, we do not foresee any problems with EB-5 visa numbers running out for Mexico or Brazil.

Currently, all visa numbers are current, but it is anticipated that for Chinese visa applicants, there will be a delay, but no such delay has occurred yet. I have not heard anything about EB-5 delays for Mexico or Brazil.

There are a total of 10,000 EB-5 visas available each year. This number includes EB-5 spouses and dependents. No more than 7 percent of all EB-5 investor visas can be issued to one single nationality unless the cap has not been reached.

There should be for Mexico and Brazil. The only ones in danger are people from China.