What is the timeline for creating an EB-5 regional center?

The EB-5 regional center application is a complicated process. The recently released processing time for I-924 petitions is 8.5 months. The processing time also depends on the types of I-924 petition you submit. A regional center petition with a hypothetical project takes relatively less time to adjudicate. A regional center petition with an actual or exemplar project takes longer time to be approved. You cannot submit the I-526 applications until your regional center is approved, unless you are using a third party regional center temporarily. Please contact an experienced EB-5 attorney for details.

The latest news from USCIS is that regional center applications take about 5-6 months for approval. You can submit a complete proposal of an actual project or a model project. You really need some expertise in preparing and filing. The rules keep changing.

You can submit an I-924 Application for Regional Center Designation based upon an actual project or a hypothetical project. Our law firm recently was able to obtain a Regional Center Approval based upon a hypothetical project in less than 28 days. However we cannot guarantee it will always take only 28 days, as it may be more or less. Once the actual project documentation is EB-5 compliant and the regional center is approved, then the investors can file their I-526 petitions.

To begin with, gaining regional center approval certainly needs an experienced attorney''s assistance. To be frugal on this crucial step makes no sense. Having said that, the regional center application is initiated with the filing of Form I-924. Current USCIS processing time is seven months. About filing individual I-526s, please note USCIS has very strict rules as to when one yet-to-be-certified regional center can advertise itself as a regional center and have a foreign investor place their EB-5 investment into the general fund. Violation of that rule has subjected at least one regional center to being stripped off its certification. Typically the I-526 can only be filed after the regional center''s certification approval from USCIS.

The I-924 processing times are posted. Be sure that a regional center is what you need as this usually adds at least a year to the process. Unless you need this to attract investors or need to count indirect jobs to meet the jobs requirement, a stand-alone project can do everything else with less hassle.

An applicant for EB-5 regional center designation could apply as a hypothetical project, an actual project, or an exemplar. The average I-924 processing time is 8.5 months, but that includes all three types of applications. It is likely that a hypothetical project, with less evidence for the USCIS to review, might be a little faster than an actual or exemplar project, but there is no deference afforded to the business plan or agreements by USCIS, as would be the case for an exemplar approval. The preparation time before filing depends upon you, and how well your team works together. It is important to retain an experienced EB-5 immigration attorney who can advise you and who can assemble a team of experts such as a business attorney, an EB-5 business plan writer, and an economist. There could be a couple months of planning and preparation before you have your deal package, business plan, and economic report ready for submission to the USCIS. I-526 petitions should be submitted after the I-924 is approved and the regional center has received its USCIS designation letter.

There are a lot of factors that play into the formation of the regional center. As to what is needed really depends on whether project it is an exemplar or hypothetical.

The most recent update from USCIS indicates that I-924 petitions are taking 8.5 months to process. Keep in mind that there are three types of petitions: hypothetical, actual, and exemplar. The hypothetical petitions (which may be based on actual projects) are usually processed much faster, while the exemplar petitions (shovel-ready projects) which request project pre-approval from USCIS tend to take longer.

You can apply for regional center designation with a hypothetical project, an actual project, or request pre-approval of the project and I-526 petition. Processing times at USCIS have been as little as four months recently and as high as 10. I-526 petitions should be submitted after designation is obtained.