Thursday, January 22, 2020 – The February 2020 Visa Bulletin revealed a final action date of December 01, 2014 for applicants from Mainland China advancing 2 weeks from the January Visa Bulletin and a final action date of December 15, 2016 for Vietnam born applicants, with an advancement of 1 week. The final action date for Indian born EB-5 visa applicants advanced “at a very rapid pace” to September 1, 2018 on the February Visa Bulletin with a 4-month advancement, as indicated in the January 2020 Visa Bulletin. The dramatic advancement of India’s final action date did not represent a decrease in the number of new Indian investors in terms of I-526 filings, rather, it indicates that the number of documentarily qualified Indian applicants with an I-526 approval is decreasing at the National Visa Center (NVC) in recent months because of the slow I-526 adjudication in USCIS. This allows for the NVC to address the current backlog of qualified India visa applicants at a faster pace. As of February 1, 2020 Mainland Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian investors who filed their I-526 petitions on or before the new cutoff dates will be eligible to schedule interviews with Department of State Consular offices and be issued conditional immigration visas to enter the U.S. or apply for adjustment of status if they are already in the U.S. All other countries remain current.
