Every family embarking on U.S. identity planning shares a common wish: to provide their children with more educational choices, to ensure a more stable life for their family, and to create greater opportunities for career and asset development. The path of immigration is a long-term investment for the future, carrying the hopes and responsibilities of the entire family.
It is precisely because this path embodies many important goals that minimizing uncertainty when choosing the EB-5 program becomes a primary concern for many families. Following the implementation of the new U.S. EB-5 policy, a core factor determining investment reliability has been shifted to the project level: whether the project has passed the I-956F pre-approval.
I-956F Pre-Approval:
The First "Checkpoint" for EB-5 Investment
I-956F is the pre-approval for projects under the new U.S. investment immigration law enacted in 2022. It clearly states that only when the project's I-956F approval is granted will the investor's personal application I-526E be accepted; if the project's I-956F approval is denied, the investor's I-526E application will also be unable to be approved.
This means that the approval of the project's I-956F is a prerequisite for the processing and successful approval of the personal I-526E application, and its outcome directly determines the success or failure of the investor's immigration application.
Data Reveals Risks:
I-956F Denial Rate is Much Higher than Market Perception
According to publicly available data from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the denial rate for I-956F is significantly higher than what the market perceives:
• Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025: A total of 54 I-956F applications were processed, with only 37 approved and 17 denied, resulting in a denial rate of 31.48%
• Cumulative for the first three quarters of Fiscal Year 2025: A total of 177 I-956F applications were processed, with 132 approved and 45 denied, leading to a denial rate as high as 25.42%
The cumulative data for the first three quarters indicates that approximately one in four projects failed to pass the I-956F review.
In the third quarter alone, nearly one in three projects was denied.
This indicates that a considerable number of projects have yet to meet the basic requirements set by the immigration bureau for EB-5 projects, and the uncertainties at the project level cannot be overlooked.
If I-956F is Denied, What Irreversible Losses Might Investors Face?
Once a project fails to pass the I-956F, investors will face direct and often irreparable consequences:
• Personal application is denied, priority date resets to zero, and all previous scheduling becomes void, requiring a fresh start.
• Funds are tied up for an extended period without advancing the green card process, leading to sharply increased time and opportunity costs.
• Need to select a new project, extending the overall timeline by several years, which significantly impacts families with educational planning.
• Potentially missing out on the exemption from waiting periods and priority processing windows for rural reserved visas, with limited slots available, and missing out cannot be remedied.
Therefore, rather than risking waiting for project approval, it is better to minimize uncertainty at the selection stage.
For families seeking certainty and controllable timelines, choosing projects that have already received I-956F approval is currently the most pragmatic and secure strategy.
High Certainty Strategy: Choose I-956F Approved Rural Projects
In the current market environment, the number of projects that have truly received I-956F approval and meet the rural TEA requirements is very limited.
If investors wish to balance visa reservation, processing efficiency, and reliability, the best choice is to focus directly on I-956F approved rural projects.
Currently, the "Great Smoky Mountains - Marriott Hotel" EB-5 rural project, exclusively represented by WorldWay in the Greater China region, belongs to the category of high-quality projects that have received I-956F approval, further assisting investors in safely and efficiently achieving their U.S. identity planning and quickly embarking on a new life in the United States.
In the context of limited global quotas and scarce high-quality rural projects, the value of such "certainty" projects is increasingly prominent. Project slots are limited, so interested parties should plan early and secure their spots as soon as possible.
For detailed inquiries, please contact mainland China: 400-138-2929, Hong Kong customer service center: (852)2802 8798