Questions and Answers > EB-5 Investments

Will I have to go to an embassy interview to get an EB-5 visa?

I want to invest for an EB-5 visa. I am in Vietnam. Even if I pay the cash and fees for the visa, will I still have to go to an interview at the United States Embassy in Vietnam? Will they have the power to fail me even if my records are approved from USCIS?

Answers

• Magdale Labbe Henke

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 25, 2013

  Yes, you will have to go to an embassy interview to get the EB-5 visa if you are currently outside the U.S., and are not in the U.S. with another type of visa where you can submit an "adjustment of status" application. Even if USCIS determines that you meet the requirements to qualify for the EB-5 category, the consulate looks at further criteria of ineligibility (criminal convictions, previous overstays of visa status, fraud, etc.) and could still deny the visa even though USCIS may have approved the initial petition.

• Mona Shah

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 13, 2013

  If you are not in the US, you will have to adjust through a US Consulate. Yes, Consulate Officers have the power to deny you if they feel that you are not eligible for admission to the US. They will not re-adjudicate the 526 petition.

• Philip H Teplen

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 8, 2013

  If you are out of the U.S., then you will need an interview at the Consulate which has the authority to review the application, even though administratively approved. We can assist and prepare you for the interview which is critical to a successful application.

• Julia Roussinova

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 5, 2013

  Upon approval of your individual I-526 petition, you may either adjust your status to a conditional permanent resident from another lawful status in the US (if in another lawful immigration status the US) or you must consular process and get an immigrant visa at a US embassy abroad in order to enter the US and be admitted as a conditional permanent resident in the US. If you are abroad and will consular process your immigrant visa when your I-526 petition is approved by USCIS, then a consular officer will interview you and they will also run background checks. Unless you have certain grounds of inadmissibility for criminal or health reasons, US embassy should not fail you if you have an approved I-526 petition by USCIS. Obtaining a tourist visa to the US might be recommended before you go forward with an EB-5 investment to ensure no inadmissibility issues. Feel free to contact me to discuss any further questions you may have.

• Taher Kameli

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on February 5, 2013

  Yes you do. Usually the embassy does not reject the EB5 approved applications. Do not forget that you have to get the approval first from the USCIS by filing an I-529 application.

• Fredrick W Voigtmann

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  Yes and yes.

• Shahzad Q Qadri

  RC Creator

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  If you are outside of the USA you will most likely have to go to a consulate or embassy for an interview. They have the authority to deny if they feel that you are were not honest or credible with the answers or docs that were provided.

• Larry J Behar, Esq

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  The consular official in your home country is the final person who decides to issue a visa or not. So indeed, you are correct that you may have your I 526 application approved in the US but the visa denied in your home country. The reason for this is that the approval of the EB 5 application is not limited to just the investment but your history as well, which may or may not be questionable. It is best to be well prepared for the final consular appointment. Know your investment well.

• Rakesh Mehrotra

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  Yes you have to go to the US consulate to get a visa. Generally at this interview your documents are reviewed again to see if everything is complete and to do security and background checks. The consulates generally have a better idea of that country laws and procedures and therefore are in a better position to evaluate if the documents are complete and accurate. The consulate always has a right to refuse a visa if they find any ground to disqualify you but in most case if there is an approved USCIS petition in your case an I-526 petition you should be able to get the visa unless you fail a security or background check or something is wrong with your documents.

• Karen Weinstock

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  You would have to have an interview for your immigrant visa. The embassy would not be able to deny your case but if they suspect fraud or material misrepresentation they could return the petition to USCIS.

• Farah Abbas

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  Yes, as an EB-5 investor undergoing Consular processing, you will have to be interviewed at the U.S. Consulate/Embassy in your home country. You will be subject to all the normal immigrant visa processing as you would through another immigrant visa category.

• Lei Jiang

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  Yes. You still will go to US embassy for an interview.

• Gregory Romanovsky

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  Thank you for your question. If, by the time your I-526 petition is approved, you are already in the U.S. in some non-immigrant status (e.g., as a visitor), you can get your permanent resident status without leaving the U.S. - by filing for adjustment of status. If you''re overseas, then you will need to go through consular process. That being said, if the petition is approved and there is no admissibility concern (criminal record, fraud, etc), they will have to issue the immigrant visa to you. I wouldn''t be too concerned about being denied at the consulate. Let me know if you want to discuss this further.

• Mahsa Aliaskari

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 31, 2013

  If you are outside of the U.S. when you complete this process, yes you will need to attend an immigrant visa interview. All immigrant visa applicants regardless of the visa category must undergo background and security checks to confirm eligibility and admissibility. This is the case even if you are in the U.S., while you may not need to attend an interview, you would still undergo the same background and security checks.

• Daniel P Hanlon

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  If you are applying for an immigrant visa; i.e. to obtain a green card from outside the US, you must appear for an interview at the US Embassy in your home country.

• Alexander Lebedinski

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  In completing Form I-526 (the EB-5 application filed with USCIS) you have to specify if you will be adjusting status in the U.S. or going through consular processing to get your EB-5 immigrant visa. Once you make that selection on the application, it is difficult to change. Assuming that you are in Vietnam when (and if) the USCIS approves I-526, you will likely have to go through a U.S. Consulate to apply and obtain an immigrant visa. At that time, the Consulate reviews not only your EB-5 documents, but also your personal records and may deny the immigrant visa petition if, for example, you have inadmissibility grounds that would make you ineligible for an immigrant visa (for example and in general, previous violations of U.S. immigration laws, criminal convictions, etc.). If that happens, you need to consider if a waiver of that inadmissibility ground is available.

• Rebecca White

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes, a consulate interview would still be required for visa issuance. Typically a refusal to issue the visa at the consular stage will be related to security concerns, and the consulate would not be re-adjudicating an approved petition. The alternative would be a change of status request from another status from within the US.

• Jinhee Wilde

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  In order to receive the temporary, conditional green card or Immigrant Visa, you must either adjust from some valid status in the U.S. if you are already here, or be interviewed at the Consulate/U.S. Embassy for the Immigrant Visa. If your record is clean at home and you pass the name and other security checks, the Consulate officer should not fail you for the Immigrant Visa if the USCIS approved your I-526. I have not had any of my clients fail the Immigrant Visa interview.

• Marisa Casablanca

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  There are two way to obtain Legal Permanent Residence in the U.S. (Green Card). One way is to Consular process. Individuals who reside outside the U. S. may consular process their immigrant visa. This entails processing their immigrant visa with a Consulate outside the U. S. However, individuals who are in legal status in the U. S., such as with a tourist visa, may adjust status to permanent residence without having to leave the United States.

• Roberto Ortiz

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  The way that the EB-5 process works is the following: - You select an approved EB-5 project and invest the $500,000.00. - The I-526 application is filed with USCIS - Once the I-526 is approved, USCIS will send the approval to the National visa Center. - The National Visa Center will send another application that needs to be submitted with personal original documents like a birth certificate, marriage certificate, etc. - Once the National Visa Center has all of the documents necessary, they will send your case to the US embassy in Vietnam and you will be given an interview. - At the interview, they will make sure that you are eligible for lawful permanent residency, i.e, that you do not have a criminal record, that you do not have a transmittable disease, that you have not trafficked drugs, that you have not committed any fraud, etc. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

• Edward Litwin

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes you will have an interview. Yes, they have the power to deny your immigrant visa, even if approved by uscis, however, that is probably unlikely, unless there are other reasons to deny you such as a criminal record, health reasons, etc. I trust this helps.

• Sufen Hilf

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes, you have to go to the interview before your immigrant visa is approved. Also, even after your petition approval, your immigrant visa application can be denied for reasons, such as criminal convictions, fraudulent documents, or any inadmissible grounds listed on the Immigration and Nationality Acts.

• Jeffrey E Campion

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes. You''ll need to go to the consulate. Normally, the consulate should not re adjudicate the case. Of course, if there''s information immigration didn''t know when the petition was approved, the consulate will review that information.

• Anthony Korda

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  If you are lawfully present in the US when the I-526 Petition is approved, you may be eligible to apply to adjust status without returning to Vietnam for a Consular interview. However, adjustment of status is a different process, for which different fees are payable to USCIS. If your Visa is processed at the consular level, the consular officer will have the discretion to deny you a visa, but his would only be likely to occur in the case of criminal convictions or immigration violations. If you are denied for any reason, the fees paid will not be refunded.

• Amir Farzaneh

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Generally, Yes if you are outside the US.

• Mark Urbanski

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes, all immigrant visa applicants must appear for an interview at the U.S. consulate processing their case. There are important issues that the consulate considers, and things could go wrong if not handled carefully, which is why it is so important to have a qualified attorney representing you throughout the process... both in the U.S. and at the Consulate. I have Vietnamese language assistance for clients and would be happy to assist you with your EB-5 case if you choose to proceed.

• Boyd Campbell

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes. It is possible that the U.S. embassy will deny an EB-5 visa previously approved by USCIS, but that is unlikely.

• Ed Beshara

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  If the foreign national investor is living in their home country they will apply for the Conditional Permanent Residency at the US Consulate. It is advisable to seek the advise of a US immigration attorney regarding any grounds of inadmissibility.

• Bernard Sidman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  You will need to attend an interview at the US Embassy. They could only deny you if they think that there has been some fraud in the application approved by USCIS.

• Steven Anapoell

  Securities Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  You will have to go to the local consulate for health and background check. Yes, they can deny you based on results of those checks.

• Stephen Berman

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes, you will have to attend an interview.

• Angeline Chen

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes you do. You need to hire an immigration attorney to help you with this process. It''s very complicated.

• Hans Burgos

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  You may obtain an EB-5 immigrant visa through adjustment of status inside the US provided that you inspected and admitted with a non-immigrant visa.

• Emre Ozgu

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes you will have to go the embassy if you are outside of the U.S.

• Anthony Ravani

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes, you still have to go for an interview. No, they don?t have the authority to revoke the EB-5 visa since that issued from USCIS. However, they will do a background check and if something comes up in that check then they can either ask your attorney to remedy that or if not remedied, then they will ask USCIS to revoke the EB-5.

• Darren Silver

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  You will be required to attend an interview at the Consulate in VN.

• Neville M Leslie

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 30, 2013

  Yes, you will have to go to an embassy interview to get your EB-5 visa.

• Reza Rahbaran

  Immigration Attorney

  Answered on January 29, 2013

  If you are outside the United Stated you must go through consular processing in your home country. The consulate has the power to deny your visa if for example they believe your documents are fraudulent, you have been untruthful in your visa application or you have overstayed on a visa to the US. These are just examples, at Rahbaran & Associates we go through your immigration history and other reasons you may be barred from entry to the United States prior to filing your petition so that we may uncover potential problems if they exist. Feel free to contact our firm for further information.