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.
Continue Reading BREAKING NEWS – EB-5 Visa Retrogression Update: Guangzhou Consulate Cancelling Scheduled Immigrant Visa Interviews

This post was updated April 22, 2015

As you may know, the EB-5 immigrant visa category will retrogress beginning May 2015. Below is a guide to the frequently asked questions we have been receiving since the announcement of retrogression.

1.      What if I have a child who may age-out but my I-526 Petition has been approved? How can I preserve my child’s age for purposes of immigration?

The DOS has issued guidance that the following can freeze a child’s age for the purposes of the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA):

  •  Submission of the DS-260;
  • Payment of the visa fee; OR
  • Submission of a DS-230 to the NVC;

It is important to remember each of those activities listed above will freeze a child’s age for CSPA purposes. Thus, the most cost effective and less timely method is payment of the visa fee bill by cashier’s check as soon as an I-526 Petition approval notice is received. As noted immediately below, all applicants who have received approval of their I-526 Petitions before May 1, 2015, will be issued a fee bill (even past the May 1 cut-off date), thereby enabling those applicants with age-out children to freeze their children’s age for purposes of immigration.
Continue Reading Retrogression FAQs for Chinese EB-5 Based Green Card Applicants