Friday, March 13, 2020 - Today during the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program: Public Engagement, Charles Oppenheim, Chief of the Visa Control and Reporting Division, at Department of State (DOS) confirmed that in the event Chinese petitioners are unable to use the visas leftover from the rest of the world due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vietnam could stand to benefit.
Currently, approximately 10,000 EB-5 immigrant visas are allocated annually, on a fiscal year beginning October 1, to EB-5 investors, their spouses and qualifying children. When allocating EB-5 immigrant visas, each country receives an aggregate maximum of 7% (approximately 700) of the total number of EB-5 immigrant visas available each fiscal year. Any additional leftover visas are made available to EB-5 petitioners with the oldest priority dates. With the longest backlog and a final action date of May 15, 2015, the vast majority of the leftover FY20 visas stand to go to China.
On Wednesday, February 5, 2020 the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) notified stakeholders that it would temporarily close field offices in China, canceling all interviews for I-526 petitioners, due to the public health emergency related to the 2019 coronavirus outbreak. If the consulates/embassies in China do not reopen in 2020 or China is unable to use the leftover visas from the rest of the world, to ensure all visas are properly utilized Vietnam would be the likely recipient, with the next oldest final action date of January 15, 2017. India with the only other non-current final action date, is projected to become current this summer before September 30th, the end of the US fiscal year.
DOS is responsible for administering provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) relating to numerical limitations on immigrant visa issuance, including the per-country annual limit.