The year 2021 has undoubtedly come with its highs and lows. As the year comes to a close, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has released a\u00a0report\u00a0detailing preliminary\u00a0fiscal year (FY)\u00a02021\u00a0agency statistics and accomplishments,\u00a0some of which have impacted EB-5 investors and stakeholders.<\/p>\n
USCIS Director Ur M. Jaddou\u00a0said in a statement she was\u00a0proud of the USCIS during a very\u00a0challenging year, \u201cFrom responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and addressing processing delays to enacting numerous operational and policy changes in response to executive orders from the Biden-Harris Administration.\u201d She said the year marked one of growth and renewed vision for the agency.<\/p>\n
In 2022, she said the agency will continue to\u00a0serve the public \u201cwith compassion and reflect America\u2019s promise as a nation of welcome and possibilities for all.\u201d She added that the agency \u201cwill\u00a0adjudicate requests\u00a0with fairness, efficiency and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Challenges faced in 2021 for EB-5 investors and applicants<\/strong><\/p>\n Some of the challenges the agency endured during 2021 include challenges with fiscal health, temporary flexibilities in response to COVID-19, employment-based adjustments and\u00a0processing delays.<\/p>\n Regarding employment-based adjustments, USCIS noted the challenge of processing over 237,000 employment-based\u00a0Green\u00a0Card\u00a0applications\u2014apart from the agency\u2019s usual 115,000, plus an\u00a0additional\u00a0122,000\u00a0immigrant visa\u00a0numbers that the Department of State was unable to process\u00a0in FY 2020\u00a0due to the COVID-19 pandemic.\u00a0By the end of FY 2021, USCIS approved over 172,000 employment-based\u00a0adjustment of status applications, an increase of 50% above the typical baseline, the report showed.<\/p>\n Processing delays saw an increase in pending cases\u00a0and processing times. USCIS addressed processing delays\u00a0by reusing\u00a0biometrics for 2.5 million applicants since March 2020; reducing the number of pending biometrics appointments from 1.4 million in January 2021 to 155,000 as of the end of September; and fully eliminating the \u201cfront-log\u201d of cases awaiting intake processing\u2014which was more than one million receipts in January 2021 and was eliminated in July\u2014by expanding staffing and overtime at their lockbox facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the large number of pending applications that are not being reviewed due to the\u00a0lapse of the Regional Center portion of the EB-5 Program, we would hope that some of these measures to address delays are implemented once the program is reauthorized,\u201d says\u00a0Rogelio J. Carrasquillo, Esq., Shareholder\u00a0at Carrasquillo Law Group P.C. \u201cOtherwise we may see a crazy number of delays which may increase the number of legal actions by investors against USCIS for the processing of their applications.\u201d<\/p>\n USCIS achievements in 2021 when dealing with visa and immigration petitions<\/strong><\/p>\n Regarding the agency\u2019s response to executive orders, the agency noted they promoted\u00a0naturalization\u00a0and continued to process naturalization cases at pre-pandemic levels\u00a0during 2021\u00a0and completed approximately\u00a0895,000 naturalization applications,\u00a0conducted\u00a0more than 52,000 video-facilitated interviews,\u00a0and hosted more than 40,000 naturalization ceremonies.<\/p>\n Another accomplishment mentioned in the release was increased public engagement by the agency, which held more than 2,000 virtual engagements covering more than 20 topics, including citizenship\/naturalization, online filing, family-based petitions and business immigration. The agency also highlighted their transition from paper applications to a fully digital filing and adjudication experience, such as expanding and enhancing self-help tools for applicants online and through the agency\u2019s Contact Center to provide more efficient and timely service. Additionally, the agency mentioned its increased data transparency as an accomplishment, noting the USCIS has increased data transparency and availability of new and expanded quarterly reports.<\/p>\n Carrasquillo says he hopes in the new year that Congress will provide a permanent solution for the\u00a0reauthorization of the EB-5 Regional Center Program.<\/p>\n \u201cThis reauthorization should include an increase in the number of available visas in order to jump-start the program and the confidence of foreign investors,\u201d says Carrasquillo.<\/p>\n Although the\u00a0EB-5 Direct program is permanent\u00a0and Carrasquillo says they are seeing a small number of investors taking advantage of such programs, \u201cthe numbers are not sufficient to cause the economic impact that the regional center program could have with the larger amounts of foreign direct investment flowing into our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he says, at the same time, they \u201cexpect a steady number of direct EB-5 investors as the amount of investment remains at the $500k amount.\u201d<\/p>\n (By Anayat Durrani – EB5 Investor)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"