IIUSA recently obtained data on EB-5 case processing for fiscal year 2013 from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, providing us with all application processing data for I-526/829/924 since the inception of the EB-5 program. This comprehensive database, covering the period from 1991 to 2013, illustrates the trends in case processing and investor demand since the start of the EB-5 program.
The following chart shows the processing data for I-526/829/924 for fiscal year 2013.
1. A total of 6,517 I-526 applications were accepted in 2013, representing over $3.25 billion in investment funds, marking another record-breaking year. However, only 3,677 applications have been approved so far, representing $1.83 billion in investment funds. (Many are still under processing.)
2. The acceptance rates for I-526 and I-829 over the past six years (2008 to 2013) account for 68.5% and 62.8% of the total since the EB-5 program began, respectively.
3. The average approval rate for I-526 over the past six years (2008 to 2013) reached 83.7%, significantly higher than the average approval rate of 64.4% for I-526 applications since the program's inception. We can confirm that in recent years, EB-5 policies have become increasingly predictable, and the approval rates have been improving.
4. The average approval rate for I-526 over the past three years (2011 to 2013) has hovered around 80%, while the average approval rate for I-829 has reached 90%.
5. In fiscal year 2013, the acceptance volume for I-829 was 1,217, the second highest in history, following the 2,345 accepted in fiscal year 2011. The acceptance volume for I-829 in fiscal year 2014 is expected to be even higher.
6. The average approval rate for I-829 over the past six years (2008 to 2013) reached 87.1%, far exceeding the average approval rate of 73.2% for I-526 applications since the program's inception. This indicates that the program is gradually fulfilling its promises to investors.
7. The number of I-829 approvals in 2013 increased by more than five times compared to 2012, rising from 35 to 220 in just one year. This includes initial applications from regional centers as well as supplemental applications from existing regional centers. In 2013, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services made several policy decisions that significantly increased its processing capacity.
8. The approval rate for I-924 surged from 35.7% in fiscal year 2012 to 88.4% in fiscal year 2013.
What do these approval trends indicate about the EB-5 program's commitment to creating jobs in the United States, generating federal, state, and local tax revenue, and contributing to the overall GDP of the United States? To answer this critical question, we must closely examine some preliminary data from the 2010-2011 EB-5 Economic Impact Assessment Report commissioned by IIUSA, as well as the report from 2012 (the 2012 report is currently being drafted and is undergoing peer review, and will be finalized and published in a few weeks). According to our preliminary data, the EB-5 program generated over 42,000 jobs in the United States in 2012, contributing over $3.39 billion to GDP and generating over $712 million in federal/state/local tax revenue (in 2011, it generated over 33,000 jobs, over $2.6 billion in GDP, and a total tax revenue of $564 million over the previous two years).
All of this data, along with IIUSA's EB-5 Economic Impact Report, demonstrates that the EB-5 Regional Center Program is gradually maximizing its economic impact. Currently, there are no legislative reforms, such as reusing unused visa numbers since 1990, reducing the total visa cap per country, and counting only the primary applicant of each family as one visa quota (currently, each dependent applicant in a formal family is also counted as a visa number). The establishment of the EB-5 program is intended to prevent economic decline, and IIUSA will continue to advocate for these changes in Congress, looking forward to better outcomes in the coming years.
Worldway immigration experts remind investors that EB-5 case processing data can serve as a reference, but caution is necessary in investment decisions, and thorough research on the projects themselves is paramount.
