Once the U.S. EB-5 investment immigration visa retrogression occurs, applicants born in mainland China may face a backlog of at least two years. In August of this year, the U.S. Department of State issued a visa backlog notice for the first time. Official announcements from the U.S. Department of State on September 9 indicated that applicants born in mainland China had not yet entered the EB-5 visa retrogression period. Following the start of the next fiscal year (FY 2015) on October 1, there will be no immediate retrogression. However, as current applicants are investors from 2011-2013 with a backlog of over 10,000 cases, a large number of applications will be processed next year. Therefore, immigration experts predict that visa quotas will be exhausted rapidly by next spring or summer, leading to retrogression.
If retrogression occurs, there will be a backlog of at least two years. There are two critical dates for USCIS application review: the cut-off date and the priority date. The priority date for an I-526 application is determined by the date USCIS receives the application. If the priority date is before the cut-off date, the application can be processed; if the priority date is after the cut-off date, a retrogression waiting period will occur. Therefore, filing as early as possible is more advantageous for investors to successfully apply and shorten the waiting time. Because the earlier an investor files, the earlier their priority date, the shorter the wait will be once retrogression occurs. If a 2-year retrogression occurs, an early application might only result in a wait of a few months. Thus, advancing the filing date has become a key issue for EB-5 investment immigration applicants.
Worldway's immigration experts also remind investors not to rush into choosing a project just to meet a filing deadline; only by choosing a high-quality project can the approval of the I-526 application be guaranteed. If a project encounters problems, the application becomes more difficult and will delay the applicant's timeline. Therefore, the closer the retrogression, the more important it is to choose a good project, and once a good project is selected, one should file immediately to shorten the waiting time.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike project, for which Worldway serves as the general agent, is an excellent choice to address the retrogression issue in a timely manner. To ensure that investors can successfully file while maintaining quality, Worldway has specially engaged Mr. Ronald Klasko, Chairman of the EB-5 Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, to serve as the attorney for Worldway clients. Worldway and Mr. Ronald Klasko's legal team have jointly launched a 5-day filing service. On September 14, during a summit dialogue with Worldway on how to address retrogression, Mr. Ronald Klasko promised investors: as long as the investor's documents are in order, his legal team will file them with USCIS within 5 days of receiving the client's documents from Worldway, ensuring that investors obtain their receipt numbers and priority dates as early as possible to cope with the impending retrogression.
Worldway President Dr. Winner Xing and Mr. Ronald Klasko
At the same time, Mr. Ronald Klasko emphasized that he is pleased to accept Worldway's invitation to serve as the immigration attorney for Worldway clients and to provide them with expedited filing services. He also announced that because the Pennsylvania Turnpike project has already received I-924 pre-approval from USCIS, and because this project is an investment project of USCIS and the federal government rather than one financed by a private developer, he is willing to promise: if a client's I-526 application is rejected for any reason, his legal team will refund all legal fees. This is the first time Mr. Ronald Klasko, as Chairman of the EB-5 Committee of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, has made such a solemn commitment to clients, demonstrating his confidence in the Pennsylvania Turnpike project as a top expert in the U.S. immigration field.
