During EB-5 Stakeholder’s Meeting, held on Monday, December 3, 2012, the USCIS announced the creation of a new EB-5 Program Office in Washington, DC. The Chief of the new EB-5 Program Office will report to the Deputy Director of USCIS. This is a significant realignment, intended to be accomplish within four to six months. According to USCIS, this reallocation of resources is targeted at ensuring that the Program Office addresses adjudications more effectively. The new EB-5 Program Office will handle adjudications, legislative affairs and policy, in addition to having full-time staff devoted to identifying fraud. One goal of the new EB-5 Program Office will be to move from the current request for evidence (“RFE”) model to a more dynamic email approach, allowing adjudicators to handle complex communcations directly with the public. Direct communication with decision-makers should result in fewer denials and RFEs over issues that may be resolved through the EB-5 Program Office communicating with the investors’ attorneys.
At the present, all EB-5 petitions and benefits are adjudicated at the USCIS Service Center in California, resulting in very unpredictable processing times for benefits, and leaves investors feeling insecure as they wait, sometimes in excess of six months, for their cases to be resolved. The new EB-5 Program Office has an ambitious goal of adjudicating EB-5 benefits in 90-120 days.
However, until the USCIS officially announces a change in filing procedures, the status quo remains and all filings should continue to be channeled to the California Service Center. Hopefully, the new EB-5 Program Office will allow USCIS to accomplish its goal of establishing a more efficacious and fair adjudications process.
