A few days ago, Laura Reiff and I reported on common misconceptions related to the predicated retrogression in the EB-5 visa category for Chinese nationals. Things have already changed.

According to Charles Oppenheim of the Department of State Visa Office, EB-5 usage has dropped in recent months. As a result, it is no longer expected that China will reach its per country limit in 2013. This means that Chinese EB-5 applicants may continue to file EB-5 petitions without being subjected to a backlog. Current processing times for EB-5 petitions are at around eight months, and subsquent green card applications are generally processed between a six to eight month period.

Mr. Oppenheim noted that EB-5 visa usage was up by 75 percent compared to this time in 2012. Likewise, he was uanble to provide insight into how the upcoming transfer of EB-5 cases from the USCIS California Service Center to the new EB-5 office in Washington, D.C., would impact processing of cases by the agency.

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Photo of Kate Kalmykov Kate Kalmykov

Kate Kalmykov Co-Chairs the Immigration & Compliance Practice. She focuses her practice on business immigration and compliance. She represents clients in a wide-range of employment based immigrant and non-immigrant visa matters including students, trainees, professionals, managers and executives, artists and entertainers, treaty investors

Kate Kalmykov Co-Chairs the Immigration & Compliance Practice. She focuses her practice on business immigration and compliance. She represents clients in a wide-range of employment based immigrant and non-immigrant visa matters including students, trainees, professionals, managers and executives, artists and entertainers, treaty investors and traders, persons of extraordinary ability and immigrant investors.

Kate has deep experience working on EB-5 immigrant investor matters. She regularly works with developers across a variety of industries, as well as private equity funds on developing new projects that qualify for EB-5 investments. This includes creation of new Regional Centers, having projects adopted by existing Regional Centers or through pooled individual EB-5 petitions. For existing Regional Centers, Kate regularly helps to prepare amendment filings, file exemplar petitions, address removal of conditions issues and ensure that they develop an internal program for ongoing compliance with applicable immigration regulations and guidance. She also counsels foreign nationals on obtaining greencards through either individual or Regional Center EB-5 investments, as well as issues related to I-829 Removal of Conditions.

Kate also works with various human resources departments on I-9 employment verification matters as well as H-1B and LCA compliance. She regularly counsels employers on due diligence issues including internal audits and reviews, as well as minimization of exposure and liabilities in government investigations.