The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Report regarding the “Investigation into Employee Complaints about Management of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 Program” was released March 24, 2015. This report follows a long investigation and inquiries by several congressional offices about the appropriateness of the communications between certain stakeholders in the EB-5 program and… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Inspector General
Subscribe to Inspector General RSS FeedThe Office of the Inspector General Releases Report Critical of the USCIS Administration of the EB-5 Regional Center Program
Posted in Inspector GeneralOn December 12, 2013, the Office of the Inspector General (“OIG”) for the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) released a long awaited report analyzing the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) administration of the EB-5 Regional Center program. Please see previous posts about the investigation. The report contains four recommendations of which USCIS concurred… Continue Reading
Senate Confirms USCIS Director Mayorkas for DHS Deputy Position and President Obama Announces His Pick to Replace Him
Posted in Inspector General, USCISThe U.S. Senate confirmed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas to be the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security by a straight partisan vote of 54-41. President Obama also announced the nomination of Leon Rodriguez to fill his post. Mr. Rodriguez is currently with the Department of Health and Human Services as the… Continue Reading
U.S. Senate Confirms Jeh Johnson as Secretary of Homeland Security
Posted in General, Inspector GeneralOn December 16, 2013, the U.S. Senate confirmed Jeh C. Johnson, the former general counsel of the Pentagon, to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a resounding 78-16 vote. (As reported earlier, the confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas to become DHS Deputy Secretary is also expected to move forward after a Senate committee… Continue Reading
Investigating Director Mayorkas and the Inspector General Investigating Mr. Mayorakas – The Impact on the EB-5 Regional Center Program
Posted in EB-5 Program, Inspector GeneralAs previously discussed this Fall, Inspector General Investigations and whistle-blower driven reviews by Congressional Oversight Committees are very commonplace in Washington, D.C. The nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas, the current Director of the USCIS at DHS and the presidential nominee to assume the Deputy Secretary position at DHS, now seems to be more complicated than a… Continue Reading
Insights on EB-5 Adjudications in the Shadow of Inspector General and Congressional Reviews
Posted in EB-5 Program, Inspector General, USCISInspector General (IG) investigations and whistle-blower driven reviews by Congressional Oversight committees are not new and are commonplace in the federal bureaucracy of the U.S. The recent publicity surrounding Alejandro Mayorkas (the current Director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and presidential nominee to assume the… Continue Reading
Update on EB-5 Processing from USCIS
Posted in EB-5 Program, Inspector General, Speaking Engagement, USCIS Public EngagementKate Kalmykov, Alissa Brodie and I attended the American Immigration Lawyers’ Association Mexico City EB-5 Conference, “Show Me the Jobs,” on May 2, 2013 in Miami, Florida. The lunch program of the conference featured guest speaker, Rob Silvers, Senior Counselor to USCIS Director, Alejandro Mayorkas. Mr. Silvers addressed the conference, giving an update on the… Continue Reading
USCIS Releases Long Awaited Draft EB-5 Policy Memorandum
Posted in Inspector General, USCIS Public EngagementIn November of 2011, and later on in January of 2012, pursuant to a directive by USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas USCIS issued two draft policy memos meant to consolidate all EB-5 guidance into a single overarching policy memorandum. The EB-5 community has been awaiting a third iteration of that memorandum for over a year and on February 14, 2013, USCIS issued a new version meant to include stakeholder comments and policy changes enacted over the course of the past year. The Service will accept comments from the public on the draft guidance until April 1, 2013.
My EB-5 Wishlist for 2013
Posted in EB-5 Program, Inspector General, Regional Center1. Faster processing times for EB-5 related petitions across the board. For the better portion of 2012, USCIS has repeatedly stated at EB-5 Stakeholder events that their target processing times for all EB-5 related form types including: · I-924, Applications for Initial Regional Center Designations · I-924, Amendment Applications to Regional Center Designations · I-526,… Continue Reading
USCIS Announces Creation of New “EB-5 Program Office”
Posted in EB-5 Program, Inspector General, Non-Regional Center, Regional CenterIn the following message publicized today by the USCIS, Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced the creation of a new EB-5 Program office, as well as the implementation of a special review board this month to oversee pending cases that have been recommended for a denial. I am pleased to announce that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services… Continue Reading
USCIS Announces Engagement with EB-5 Economists
Posted in EB-5 Program, Econometric Report, Inspector General, Regional Center, USCIS Public EngagementThis week in response to stakeholder requests, the USCIS announced that Director Alejandro Mayorkas would beholding a stakeholder engagement with USCIS economists on Friday, June 22, 2012 from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm (Eastern). During the session, USCIS economists will address the agency’s review of economic methodologies used in EB-5 Immigrant Investor cases, including the… Continue Reading
USCIS Follow-up on the Conversation with Director Mayorkas Related to Tenant Occupancy
Posted in EB-5 Program, EB-5 Project, Inspector General, Regional CenterAs we reported last week, on April 27, 2012, USCIS Director Mayorkas hosted a Conversation engagement with the EB-5 community on the tenant-occupancy economic model. During the call the Director remained firm that the USCIS had not changed its policy with respect to the use of the economic model. He explained that the new guidance… Continue Reading
USCIS Seems to be Changing its Mind About Introducing Premium Processing for EB-5 Regional Center Applicants
Posted in EB-5 Program, Inspector General, Regional CenterDuring the EB-5 conversation with Director Mayorkas today, he indicated that the USCIS is reconsidering the promise they made almost a year ago to introduce Premium Processing for regional center designation applications with shovel ready projects. During a call that was supposed to focus on the tenant occupancy issue, Director Mayorkas indicated that the Service… Continue Reading
The USCIS Tenant Occupancy Saga Continues
Posted in EB-5 Program, Inspector General, Regional CenterLast week, I travelled to the Bahamas to speak at the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s EB-5 conference. Without a doubt, USCIS’ change in position regarding the ability of regional centers to count jobs generated from tenants was a concern for many stakeholders in attendance and was addressed during numerous conference panels. The new stance on the tenant occupancy economic methodology has… Continue Reading
USCIS Announces Upcoming EB-5 Informational Sessions
Posted in EB-5 Program, Immigrant Investor, Inspector GeneralIn its efforts to continue to engage the public on EB-5 related issues the USCIS has announced two upcoming engagement sessions. Tomorrow from 3:00 to 4:00 pm EST the Service will host “A Conversation with Director Mayorkas.” The session will be an in-depth dialogue with the USCIS Director to discuss policy issues related to the… Continue Reading
EB-5 Breaking News: USCIS Issues Draft EB-5 Policy Memorandum
Posted in Inspector General, Regional CenterBy: Kate Kalmykov USCIS Director Alejandro Mayorkas invites stakeholders to review and comment on a draft policy memorandum (EB-5 AdjudicationsPolicy.pdf) on the EB-5 program. Greenberg Traurig, LLP will be submitting comments on behalf of our Regional Center clients and individual investors. GT attorneys attended the Director’s teleconference and will be forwarding an Alert assessing the… Continue Reading