Questions for USCIS about the Visa Availability Approach (revised)

On March 13, USCIS will hold a public engagement to discuss and field questions about its recent announcement that “USCIS Adjusts Process for Managing EB-5 Visa Petition Inventory.” Here are my questions, so far. I may revise in response to reader comment. The deadline for submitting questions is February 11.

— Revision —

I attempted to condense my questions, hoping that will maximize the likelihood that USCIS may answer any of them. Here’s the revised list that I’m actually sending to USCIS:

1. Why is USCIS proposing an operational change to select just a few petitions to be processed “in a timely fashion” instead of using available resources to process all I-526 in a timely fashion?
2. In 2018, IPO had about 50 adjudicators working on I-526 and processed over 15,000 I-526 petitions. After implementing the “visa availability approach,” how many adjudicators will IPO allocate to I-526, and how many I-526 does IPO aim to process per quarter?
3. If IPO has reduced staff committed to I-526 adjudications, and downgraded its productivity goals, why?
4. The “visa availability approach” could appear to be an excuse to reduce I-526 adjudication volume from 2018 levels – is it?
5. How does IPO plan to identify the “individuals from countries where visas are currently available, or soon available”? (Does “available” look at the current visa bulletin Chart A or Chart B, visa bulletin projections, or long-range visa availability projections? Will “individuals” account for the fact that the family may claim visas based on the nationality of the petitioner’s spouse?)
6. Does the visa availability approach aim to limit adjudications to individuals with visas immediately or soon-to-be available? (In other words, does IPO aim to match a petition’s I-526 wait time to the visa wait time, however long that may be?)
7. Does the visa availability approach aim to adjudicate only enough I-526 annually to claim annual visas available under the country caps? If so, what processing time and visas-to-I-526 assumptions will IPO use to choose how many I-526 to adjudicate?
8. How far in advance of visa availability will IPO assign an I-526 for adjudication, considering the processing times associated with I-526 and I-485 or consular processing?
9. How will IPO change the processing times report for I-526, after March 31, 2020?
10. After March 31, 2020, will the visa availability approach apply to pending petitions that were issued an RFE or NOID prior to March 31?
11. What meaning will Exemplar I-526 approval have after March 31, 2020?
12. What meaning will an approved Expedite request have after March 31, 2020?
13. How does IPO intend to ensure fairness for petitioners who invested at the same time in the same project, but who will not get concurrent adjudication due to the visa availability approach?
14. A FIFO approach aims to minimize the time between the EB-5 investment and USCIS review. This is important for program integrity, giving IPO opportunity to catch frauds as early as possible, trigger investigations while there’s still time to act, and investigate source and path of funds before trails have gone cold. The “visa availability approach” aims to defer USCIS review for some countries. How does IPO intend to help protect security in EB-5 investments and source of funds, under conditions of deferred review?
15. As described in the USCIS Policy Manual, the I-526 stage is, by its nature “the preliminary filing stage,” with eligibility requirements defined by the preliminary stage. Will USCIS revise the Form I-526 if the form will, as a matter of policy, often not be adjudicated in time to assess the preliminary stage?
16. In what sense does USCIS consider I-526 comparable to I-130?
17. Under a visa availability approach, I-526 processing times depend on the country composition of the I-526 inventory. USCIS does not currently publish data on the country composition of the I-526 inventory. When will it start to publish this data?

— Original Post —

Original question list:

1. Inventory management is not only about priority. There’s also the question of resources and productivity.

• In FY2018, IPO had about 50 adjudicators assigned to I-526, and completed over 15,000 I-526. That same resource commitment and volume could clear the entire current backlog of pending petitions in about a year. What staffing allocation and specific volume goals does IPO have for I-526 in FY2020? If I-526 resources, commitment, and volume are much lower in FY2020 than they were in FY2018, what is the explanation and justification?
• The visa availability approach intends to “give priority to petitions where visas are immediately available, or soon available.” Does it also, conversely, intend to delay I-526 for petitions where visas are not soon available – not only incidentally as a side effect of taking current countries first, but as a strategy to match I-526 wait time to visa wait time, providing a justification to reduce the volume of petitions that call for timely attention from IPO? If IPO clears the backlog of pending petitions from current countries, will it move resources away from I-526 adjudications, leaving I-526 from non-current countries to wait, pending visa availability?

2. How will IPO will balance visa availability priority with other forms of priority? Consider the following hypothetical scenarios. The answers should not be case-specific, but should express the general guidelines that would clear up the ambiguities illustrated by practical example.

• The I-526 petition has an approved expedite request, but it’s for a Chinese petitioner with 2019 priority date that won’t be current for over a decade. The backlog of pending petitions includes many petitions with no expedite requests, but current visa availability.
• The petition is for a project that has Exemplar approval, but it’s for a Chinese petitioner with 2019 priority date.
• Two Vietnamese have identical 2019 priority dates. One invested in a project with Exemplar approval; the other invested in a project without Exemplar approval.
• The petitioner is Chinese with a 2017 priority date that won’t be current for at least a decade. He’s part of a pooled investment in project for which IPO has already reviewed all the project documents, and denied all I-526 for other investors in the project.
• The petitioner is Chinese with a 2017 priority date. He’s part of a pooled investment in project for which IPO has already reviewed all the project documents, and approved all I-526 for other investors in the project.
• The petitioner is Chinese with a 2017 priority date. The petition was issued a Request for Evidence prior to March 30, 2020, but a decision has not yet been made.
• The petition is affected by a court order, but it’s for a Chinese petitioner with 2019 priority date.

3. The visa availability approach will result in petitioners in a pooled investment who file I-526 at the same time but come from different countries potentially reaching adjudication at very different times. How will this affect the policy that “The 2-year period is deemed to begin 6 months after adjudication of Form I-526. The business plan filed with the immigrant petition should reasonably demonstrate that the requisite number of jobs will be created by the end of this 2-year period. ”

4. Which metric will IPO use to select the “petitions where visas are immediately available, or soon available.” Will the decision be based on public predictions by Charles Oppenheim for visa availability in the coming 12 months? If so, will USCIS look at his “best case scenario” or “worst case scenario” prediction for visa availability? Or will USCIS wait to react to the monthly visa bulletin? If so, how will it respond to monthly fluctuations and retrogression? Or does IPO plan to rely on private and undisclosed information about future visa availability? Or does IPO simply plan to shelve all I-526 from countries that are not current, regardless of petitioner priority date, in favor of adjudicating current-country petitions when the volume of current-country petitions is large? What assumptions does IPO make about I-526 touch time and visa application and I-485 processing times, when IPO decides how far in advance of visa availability an I-526 should be assigned for adjudication? How will IPO recognize the issue of cross-chargeabiltiy, and the fact that a visa may be available to the petitioner based on the spouse’s nationality?

To assist in answering these questions, the following scenarios highlight areas of ambiguity. The answers need not discuss the specific hypothetical examples, but the answers should express practical guidelines that resolve the practical ambiguities illustrated by the specific examples. (The answers would only be case-specific if IPO plans to implement the visa availability approach on an arbitrary case-by-case basis, lacking generally-applicable principles.)

India

• Circumstances:  India has been “current” in the Visa Bulletin Chart B Dates for Filing, which means that Department of State considers all Indian priority dates to be “within a timeframe justifying immediate action in the application process,” and USCIS has been accepting I-485 for all India priority dates. Meanwhile, the Visa Bulletin Chart A Final Action Date for India is September 1, 2018. Charles Oppenheim predicted that in the next few months, this date could either progress to being “current” (best case scenario) or retrogress to November 1, 2017 (worst case scenario). [1]
• Implications: Considering this, starting in April 2020, will IPO:
  • Let all India I-526 stay in the queue together with current countries for FIFO adjudication, since the Visa Bulletin Chart B signals that that all Indian priority dates are  currently“within a timeframe justifying immediate action,” and Oppenheim predicted that India could be current in the Visa Bulletin Chart A in October 2020; or
  • For now, shelve India I-526 with priority dates more recent than November 1, 2017, since Department of State predicted that could be the worst case cut-off for India visa availability by October 2020; or
  • For now, shelve India I-526 with priority dates more recent than September 1, 2018, since these dates are not authorized for visa issuance per the current visa bulletin. Then react month-by-month to future visa bulletin date shifts; or
  • For now, prioritize India I-526 with priority dates older than September 1, 2018, since these dates are authorized for final action per the current visa bulletin (in the spirit of the stated goal to make each country “better able to use their annual per-country allocation of EB-5 visas”).

Vietnam

• Circumstances:  Vietnam is included in the “all chargeability areas except those listed” in the Visa Bulletin Chart B Dates for Filing. This category has been “current,” and USCIS has accepted Chart B for Vietnam I-485 so far in 2020. This indicates that Department of State and USCIS consider all Vietnamese priority dates to be “within a timeframe justifying immediate action in the application process.” Meanwhile, Vietnam has a Final Action Date of December 15, 2016 in the February 2020 Visa Bulletin. Charles Oppenheim predicted that by October 2020, the Vietnam Final Action Date will progress to either June 1, 2017 (best case) or April 1, 2017 (worst case).
• Implications: Considering this, starting in April, will IPO:
  • Let all Vietnamese I-526 stay in the queue together with current countries for FIFO adjudication, since the Visa Bulletin Chart B signals that that all Vietnamese priority dates are “within a timeframe justifying immediate action,” and USCIS has been accepting I-485 for all Vietnamese priority dates; or
  • For now, shelve all Vietnamese I-526 with priority dates before June 1, 2017, Oppenheim’s outside estimate for final action visa availability for October 2020? If so, how will USCIS decide when to advance the “adjudication date” cut-off for Vietnam?

China

• Circumstances:  China has a Final Action Date of December 1, 2014 in the February 2020 Visa Bulletin. Charles Oppenheim predicted that by October 2020, this date will progress to February or March 2015.  Meanwhile, If Charles Oppenheim’s past predictions are correct, China priority dates since 2016 all face long waits to visa availability:
  • 2016 priority dates may have visas available around 2023[2]
  • 2017 priority dates available around 2027[3]
  • 2018 priority dates available around 2032[4]
  • 2019 priority dates available around 2035[5]
• Implications: Considering this, starting in April, will IPO:
  • Even contemplate the option of leaving China I-526 unadjudicated for a decade or more, to free bandwidth for other work?
  • If so, what kind of “preliminary stage” adjudication and security checks does IPO think would be possible for the I-526 a decade or so after the investment was made and the project implemented? In other words, would the I-526 be possible to adjudicate as an I-526 after such extended delay?
  • Assuming it would be unthinkable to defer any currently-pending petitions to the 2030s, how will IPO decide when to adjudicate China I-526? Assuming there will be a continual inflow of new current-country I-526, how will IPO decide when to take not- current China I-526 off the shelf and give them attention? What is the principle of fairness applied to pending I-526 from China?
  • What if the primary applicant is China-born with a 2018 priority date, but the spouse was born in Europe, and thus visas would be currently available to the family based on her place of birth, were the China petition approved?

South Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil

• Circumstances:  South Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil are all “current” in the February 2020 Visa Bulletin, and expected to still be current in the October 2020 visa bulletin. [6] However, Charles Oppenheim stated that as of October 1, 2019, each country had sufficient applicants on pending I-526 petitions to exceed the approx-700 annual visa quota: 1,900 for South Korea, 1,241 for Taiwan, and 765 for Brazil). [7]
• Implications: Considering this, starting in April, will IPO:
  • Let all South Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil I-526 stay in the queue together with other current countries for FIFO adjudication, since they are current in the Visa Bulletin and expected to remain so at least through October 2020; or
  • Actively prioritize I-526 from South Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil this year, since they have potential to reach the visa quota per Oppenheim’s calculations, if only IPO can adjudicate enough of the pending petitions in time (in the spirit of the stated goal to make each country “better able to use their annual per-country allocation of EB-5 visas”); or
  • Demote petitions from South Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil behind petitions from countries that are not even on Oppenheim’s radar to exceed the annual visa limit?

Countries other than China, Vietnam, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Brazil

• Circumstances Any country becomes not current if annual visa demand reaches about 700. The USCIS press release for the “visa availability approach” indicates that a goal of the I-526 priority change is to make countries “better able to use their annual per-country allocation of EB-5 visas.”
• Implications: Considering this, starting in April, will IPO:
  • Keep a certain I-526-to-visas multiplier in mind for each country, and adjudicate only a maximum number of I-526 per year per country to avoid exceeding the per-country visa allocation?
  • Publish timely data on I-526 receipts by county, so that the market is able to judge if countries are meeting or in danger of exceeding the annual per-country allocation, and moderate or encourage demand accordingly?
  • Consider any factor other than/in addition to priority date order, when adjudicating I-526 for countries with visas immediately available? For example, whether the project has Exemplar approval?

[1] IIUSA Conference presentation October 2019 https://wolfsdorf.com/blog/2019/11/01/important-updates-on-eb-5-from-u-s-department-of-state-indian-eb-5-estimates-reduced-prepare-to-file-last-chance-cases-before-november-21-2019/

[2]IIUSA Panel with Charles Oppenheim https://event.crowdcompass.com/la2016/page/rFpfQUiXJw

[3] 2017 CIS Ombudsman Report (EB-5 visa backlog calc on p. 32-33) based on data and calculations from Charles Oppenheim https://www.dhs.gov/publication/2017-annual-report-congress

[4] Charlie Oppenheim presentation at AILA/IIUSA conference https://iiusa.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/EB-5-AILA.IIUSA-Visa-numbers-panel-for-EB-5-Conference-October-2018.pdf

[5] Charlie Oppenheim at IIUSA Conference https://iiusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IIUSA_Visa-Update-w-Charlie-Oppenheim-and-Roundtable-Discussion.pdf

[6] IIUSA Conference presentation October 2019 https://wolfsdorf.com/blog/2019/11/01/important-updates-on-eb-5-from-u-s-department-of-state-indian-eb-5-estimates-reduced-prepare-to-file-last-chance-cases-before-november-21-2019/

[7] Charlie Oppenheim at IIUSA Conference https://iiusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IIUSA_Visa-Update-w-Charlie-Oppenheim-and-Roundtable-Discussion.pdf

Source: blog.lucidtext.com
Published: 4 February 2020