Thursday, February 16, 2023 – The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has published the monthly Visa Bulletin for March, revealing priority dates for EB-5 visa applicants for the upcoming month.
FINAL ACTION DATES FOR EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCE CASES
This bulletin saw changes in the unreserved Final Action dates for the month of March.
China
- Applicants in Mainland China advanced 108 days (3.5 months), in the unreserved category, to a final action date of July 8, 2015. This restores some of the priority date lost earlier in October of 2022 but does not fully regain to the December 22, 2015 date we saw at the end of last fiscal year.
India
- Applicants in India retrogressed 525 days (17 months), in the unreserved category, to a final action date of June 1, 2018. Number use and demand for India has been higher than anticipated this fiscal year, so further retrogression has become necessary to stay within the annual limit.
Other
- On the chart below, the listing of “C” for any class indicates that the class is current, and visas are available. All other countries in the unreserved category remain “current”.
For applications filed after March 15, 2022, associated with a Rural, High Unemployment, or Infrastructure EB-5 project all countries are “current”.
The following chart describes such dates:
DATES FOR FILING OF EMPLOYMENT-BASED VISA APPLICATIONS
There was no change in the month of March for EB-5 dates for filing. In March, Chart B remains “current” for all EB-5 applicants, except for applicants born in mainland China or India who invested before March 15, 2022 or outside the reserved set aside visa categories after March 15, 2022. The priority date under dates for filing for Chinese chargeable applicants remains January 1, 2016, and December 8, 2019, for Indian chargeable applicants.
Applicants for immigrant visas who have a priority date earlier than the application date in the chart may assemble and submit required documents to the Department of State’s National Visa Center, following receipt of notification from the National Visa Center containing detailed instructions. The application date for an oversubscribed category is the priority date of the first applicant who cannot submit documentation to the National Visa Center for an immigrant visa. If a category is designated “current,” all applicants in the relevant category may file, regardless of priority date.
RETROGRESSION OF THE EMPLOYMENT-BASED FIFTH (EB-5) PREFERENCE CATEGORY FINAL ACTION DATE FOR INDIA
As of November 2021, there were an estimated 7,400 India chargeable applicants in line for unreserved visas. In FY2022 only approximately 500 immigrant visas were issued to India chargeable applicants. In FY23 EB-5 is anticipated to receive approximately 14,000 visas. Unreserved receives 68% and India upto 7% or about 660 visas in FY23. Therefore, there is more anticipated demand for visas than there are visas available causing the category to retrogress.
India is still current for applications filed after March 15, 2022, associated with a Rural, High Unemployment, or Infrastructure EB-5 projects.
We encourage all eligible Indian and Chinese investors to take advantage of current set-aside visas and to contact our office directly with any questions at info@firstpathway.com.