[Authoritative Interpretation] Key Points from the USCIS EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting

    On August 13, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) held the EB-5 Stakeholder Meeting. Worldway has extracted the core spirit of the meeting that is directly related to investors and provided an authoritative analysis. Finally, in light of the latest changes to the EB-5 program, solutions are offered to investors for reference.

    Key Point One: Increased Approval Rates and Stable Approval Policies.

    USCIS officials pointed out at the meeting that as of the third quarter of this fiscal year, there have been over 7,700 EB-5 applications, a 5% increase compared to the same period last year, with 6,498 approved and 653 denied. Currently, the approval rates for I-526 and I-829 remain high. In the first three quarters of this year, the approval rate for I-526 was 90.74%, and for I-829 it was 95.5%. This indicates that USCIS's approval policies are steadily improving.

    Key Point Two: Focus on Job Creation at the I-829 Stage.

    USCIS's release of the policy memorandum draft emphasizes that approval should focus on the job creation and investment sustainability considerations of investment immigration, especially in the context of EB-5 visa backlogs. It is important to note that if a position is a formal permanent one at the time of creation, USCIS will still recognize that position even if it no longer exists during the I-829 approval stage.

    Key Point Three: USCIS is Committed to Improving Approval Speed and Combating Fraud.

    The meeting emphasized the importance of "promoting job creation and capital investment sustainability" as stated in the memorandum draft for EB-5 approvals, and indicated efforts to improve the speed and efficiency of EB-5 approvals and reduce backlog times. This includes promoting electronic forms, enhancing communication with applicants and potential applicants, and increasing staffing. Additionally, USCIS's focus will be on preventing fraud, strengthening information collection, and improving approvals related to job creation and investment sustainability.

        [Worldway's Authoritative Interpretation] From the above excerpts of the meeting records, we can conclude that USCIS is accelerating the approval process while striving to enhance the accuracy and reliability of projects, which is beneficial for investors. Worldway continues to remind investors: as the changes to the EB-5 investment immigration program and price increases approach, two major earthquakes are imminent! Currently, the best advice for investors regarding the changes and price increases is: get in line early. The urgent task is to secure and invest early in projects that have received sample approval from USCIS, as this may be protected under the "grandfather clause" and will not be affected by new legislation regarding price increases.

    Worldway Group has a top-notch analyst team in the immigration industry and adheres to the philosophy of "selecting quality projects" to passionately offer investors two high-quality projects that have received sample approval from USCIS and are protected under the "grandfather clause"—the DLJ Four Seasons Hotel Resort Project (a project invested by the DLJ Trillion Fund that has received I-526 sample approval) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Project Phase III (a project with government commitment to repayment that has received I-924 actual project sample approval).

    

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