A mandamus action can be an effective way to address a delayed I-829 petition, which is the final step in the EB-5 visa process that removes the conditions on permanent residency. A mandamus action is a legal action that can be taken to compel a government agency to perform a certain duty. In the context
GT’s immigration litigation team recently secured a record mandamus victory in federal court for a delayed I-829 case pending for over four years. Despite numerous requests to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the USCIS Ombudsman’s office to provide a substantive case status update on the matter, it took the filing of a
On Jan. 23, 2023, USCIS announced it will issue new Form I-797 receipt notices to newly filed I-829 petitions and eligible conditional permanent residents (CPRs) whose Form I-829 was still pending as of Jan. 11, 2023. The new receipt notices would extend the status of a conditional permanent resident investor and his or her dependents
USCIS has released its third quarter performance data for the fiscal year 2016 (October through September), including performance data on I-526 Petitions and I-829 Petitions. USCIS reports generally provide summary data on the number of applications or petitions received, approved, denied and pending.
For the third quarter of 2016 (April through June), USCIS approved 1,660
On Feb. 18, 2015, USCIS released performance statistics on I-526 and I-829 EB-5 related petitions. The following charts provide the case status as broken down by petitions received, approved, denied, or pending from fiscal year 2008 through the first quarter of fiscal year 2015 (October through December 2014):
| USCIS statistics on I-526 EB-5 petitions for FY2008 – FY2015 | ||||
| Year | Received | Approved | Denied | Pending |
| 2008 | 1,258 | 642 | 120 | 853 |
| 2009 | 1,031 | 1,265 | 208 | 514 |
| 2010 | 1,953 | 1,369 | 165 | 1,125 |
| 2011 | 3,805 | 1,571 | 372 | 3,347 |
| 2012 | 6,041 | 3,677 | 957 | 5,018 |
| 2013 | 6,346 | 3,699 | 943 | 7,131 |
| 2014 | 10,923 | 4,925 | 1,169 | 12,453 |
| 2015 (First Quarter) | 2,941 | 1,652 | 133 | 13,526 |
Continue Reading USCIS Releases Performance Data on I-526 and I-829 Petitions
On September 9, 2014, USCIS held a stakeholder conference call for individuals interested in the EB-5 Program with John Lion, Julia Harrison and Nicolas Colucci. This was the first stakeholder conference call for the new deputy director of EB-5, Julia Harrison, who has had a long career with USCIS.
Mr. Colucci gave a run-down of recent developments with the Immigrant Investor Program Office (IIPO) in his opening remarks. The IIPO currently has 83 employees and expects to hire another 10-12 in October. The IIPO goal is to hire approximately 110 employees by the end of the calendar year 2014. USCIS is also working on an interagency symposium with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal banking regulators, and the Departments of Commerce and Labor to increase EB-5 Program awareness, share knowledge and solicit ideas from each other for regulatory changes. Mr. Colucci also discussed the anticipated creation of a new engagement tool known as “EB-5 Interactive,” which would increase engagement with stakeholders, provide filing tips and discuss commonly issued RFEs and how to avoid such RFEs. USCIS is also implementing the Office of Inspector General (OIG) recommendation to partner with the Department of Commerce to conduct a study on the economic impact of the EB-5 Program. Mr. Colucci anticipates that study to release its findings in the summer of 2015.Continue Reading Recent Updates from USCIS Leadership on EB-5
On May 13, 2014, USCIS updated the data for I-526 petitions and I-829 petitions for the second quarter of the 2014 fiscal year (January – March). This newly released data includes data up to March 31, 2014. The original USCIS data for the I-526 petitions and I-829 petitions can be found on the USCIS website.
Data on I-526 Petitions
For the I-526 petitions, there have been a few changes between the second quarter and first quarter of fiscal year 2014. Overall, there has been an increase in number of filed I-526 petitions. There is likely an increase in the number of filed petitions because investors are concerned of the possible visa retrogression that may occur before October 1, 2014. Most notably, Chinese investors comprise approximately 80 percent of the I-526 filings, so they are hurriedly filing their I-526 petitions before visa retrogression hits.Continue Reading New I-526 and I-829 Processing Data Published by USCIS on May 13, 2014