Green Cards Obtained by EB-5 Hit All-Time High in 2024

Varvara Latyntseva
Riga

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently published statistics for processed petitions, including EB-5 petitions, for fiscal Quarter 3, covering April 1st to June 30th, 2024.

Main takeaways:

• New applicants starting the EB-5 process by filing for Conditional Residency (I-526 & I-526E) dropped from 1,879 in Q2 to 264 in Q3. Conversely, investors nearing the end of their EB-5 journey by applying to remove conditions from their Green Cards (I-829) increased from 237 in Q2 to 1,812 in Q3.
• By the end of Q3 2024, this year already boasts the highest number of investors completing the EB-5 process in the program’s history. Investors who obtained approval for their I-829 petitions make up the majority of this group.
• USCIS continues to increase its processing volumes, which should significantly reduce processing times for new EB-5 applicants.

We have gathered data for EB-5-related petitions starting from Q3 2022, when the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA of 2022) restarted the EB-5 Program.

The substantial decrease in new applications is attributable to increased government fees for all petitions, including EB-5. Fees increased significantly starting from April 1st, 2024. For I-526E petitions, fees rose from $3,675 to $11,160.

While this increase would hardly affect overall interest in the EB-5 program, it provided a strong incentive for people already preparing documents to file before the fee increase deadline.

Based on known figures, the denial rate for combined petitions remains at 21%.

Of the 264 new applicants, 35 investors chose to invest in their own businesses, while most opted for regional center projects.

The number of pending petitions is inconsistent, and information on the post-RIA applications is missing. We anticipate clarification in USCIS's Q4 report.

The Q3 2024 data shows that 1,812 investors filed to remove conditions from their Green Cards—a marked increase from previous quarters. Additionally, 1,788 investors completed their EB-5 journey by receiving approval for their Permanent Green Cards.

This makes 2024 the year with the highest number of I-829 approvals in the EB-5 program's history. The denial rate remains low at 5%.

The number of investor petitions the USCIS processed continues to increase. In Q3, they reviewed the highest number of investor petitions since the the reform — 3,914 investors received a decision on their applications from USCIS.

This indicates USCIS' serious effort to clear the application backlog, suggesting that once resolved the processing time for new investors could be significantly shorter than now.

As the EB-5 program's numbers pick up, 50 new regional centers applied for registration, and 56 new EB-5 projects are prepared to accept foreign investor funds.

This is only slightly lower than in Q2 2023, when investors filed 76 and 88 applications, respectively.

This trend is noteworthy, especially considering that government fees for these applications increased on April 1st from $17,795 to $47,695 for new regional center registrations.

Since the RIA of 2022, all foreign companies promoting EB-5 projects must register with USCIS using Form I-956K. In Q3 2024, promoters and their employees filed 108 new applications, slightly fewer than the 124 forms filed in Q2.

This brings the total number of applications filed by promoters since the reform in 2022 to 1,154. USCIS has not yet issued any approvals or denials for these forms.