Effective today, April 22, 2015, the National Visa Center (NVC) in concert with the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou has begun issuing cancellation notices to individuals with scheduled immigrant visa interviews due to retrogression. This is a departure from the prior practice whereby individuals with scheduled immigrant visa interviews would have already been allocated an immigrant visa number, thus not subjecting them to retrogression. Individuals with recently scheduled immigrant visa interviews should check with their attorneys or legal representatives to ascertain whether a cancellation has occurred.

Individuals who receive a cancellation notice will be affected by retrogression. Accordingly, those individuals will have to review the monthly visa bulletin on this website to ascertain when their priority date is current. Once their priority date is current, they will be able to re-apply for an EB-5 immigrant visa. You can learn all about how to check your priority date here. Additionally the DOS maintains a “Priority Date Checker” which is an interactive form that will automatically populate the cut-off date applicable for you. Further information can be found here in English and here in Mandarin.

For those individuals who have derivative beneficiaries who are at risk of “aging-out,” this will not adversely affect those dependents. Any derivative beneficiary who submitted a DS-260, OR paid an immigrant visa fee will be protected by the Child Status Protection Act. Please see this informational sheet released by the visa office for more information.

Additionally, we have begun receiving reports from the EB-5 community that NVC notices of scheduled immigrant visa interviews are not being mailed timely, which is leading to individuals missing scheduled immigrant visa interviews. This is unsurprising given the NVC’s inability to function effectively the past nine months. Please check back to our blog for further updates to these developing issues.

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Photo of Dillon Colucci Dillon Colucci

Dillon R. Colucci practices and handles U.S. immigration concerns and helps individuals, families, professionals, skilled workers, investors, and businesses live, work, invest, and do business in the United States. Dillon handles a wide range of immigration matters, including nonimmigrant and immigrant employment-based cases.…

Dillon R. Colucci practices and handles U.S. immigration concerns and helps individuals, families, professionals, skilled workers, investors, and businesses live, work, invest, and do business in the United States. Dillon handles a wide range of immigration matters, including nonimmigrant and immigrant employment-based cases.

Dillon provides business immigration counsel to clients, including HR managers, high-level executives, and employees to pursue a positive immigration outcome for all stakeholders involved. Dillon has focused on administrative appeals work, successfully representing several clients in their appeals of adverse decisions. He also spends time on I-9 employment verification matters as well as H-1B and LCA compliance, including internal and external audits and reviews to minimize employer liability.

Additionally, Dillon focuses on EB-5 immigrant investor matters, regularly working 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 the creation of new Regional Centers, having projects adopted by existing Regional Centers or through pooled individual EB-5 petitions. Dillon also counsels foreign nationals on obtaining permanent residency through individual or Regional Center EB-5 investments.

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.