by cmb | Feb 1, 2024 | News
Yesterday (January 31, 2024), the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a final rule related to filing fees under the EB-5 immigrant investor program. These represent a large increase in filing fees for prospects looking to move forward with their EB-5 investment. Specifically, the following fees impact prospective investor’s costs of their EB-5 investment:
- I-526/I-526E filing fees will increase to $11,160. This represents a 204% increase, from $3,675.
- I-829 petition filing fees will be increased to $9,530 (from $3,750).
The above fee increases, in addition to others, were originally proposed in January 2023 through a notice of proposed rulemaking. Although this change has been controversial (with nearly 8,000 comments on the proposal), the USCIS did not adjust the EB-5-related amounts during or after the comment period.
This fee schedule will go into effect on April 1st, 2024. Any I-526E petition filed on or after that date will be subject to these increased filing fees.
The fee increases impact not only prospective investors. I-956 and I-956F petitions filed by prospective regional centers, and regional centers for each EB-5 investment partnership respectively will be increased to $47,695 (from $17,795).
CMB currently has two EB-5 investment opportunities available:
CMB Group 90 – Hillwood Treeline
CMB Group 91 – Hillwood DTW Air Cargo
Both of these EB-5 partnerships have units available. Group 90 already has an I-956F petition on file with the USCIS and investors can file their I-526E immediately. The Group 91 petition will be filed in the very near future and investors interested will be able to file their I-526E petition prior to the fee increase.
With over 6,000 investors, CMB is one of the oldest and most successful regional center operators in the EB-5 industry. Contact us today to learn more about how an EB-5 investment can lead to permanent residency in the United States for you and your family!
by cmb | Oct 26, 2023 | News
Great news, an investor in CMB Infrastructure Investment Group 78, LP (Group 78) has just received their first I-526E approval! The I-526E is a new petition introduced by the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA), it replaces the legacy I-526 petition. The I-526E is a significant step in the EB-5 immigration process and qualifies an investor for conditional permanent residency in the United States. This investor’s petition was approved in approximately 13 months. This indicates that the USCIS is achieving lower adjudication timeframes when it comes to processing EB-5 petitions under the new RIA. The Group 78 partnership qualifies as a high unemployment project that receives a 10% visa set-aside allocation of the 10,000 visas granted under the EB-5 program each year.
The USCIS, as a result of the RIA, introduced several new forms which has led to operational efficiencies, among other things, to improve processing times. The I-956F petition is filed by Regional Centers for each EB-5 offering and adjudicated by the USCIS to determine whether the investment itself meets the program’s requirements. The I-526E contains investor-specific information related to suitability and the source of investment funds. Under the new system, an EB-5 investment partnership must achieve an I-956F approval before individual I-526E petitions are processed. It also improves efficiency by adjudicating the project information via the I-956F once as opposed to pre-RIA when the project was reviewed as part of each I-526 petition.
Group 78 was the first of 3 CMB EB-5 partnership to receive an I-956F approval under the new program. Group 78’s I-956F was approved in approximately 12 months (on June 27, 2023). This first I-526E was approved less than 4 months after the project approval, and we expect to see additional I-526E approvals in the near future. The CMB Group 78 partnership financed the development and construction of two industrial/logistics facilities in California:
The Waterman TI facility in San Bernardino, CA serves as a new state-of the art fulfillment center for Amazon.com. This Class-A fulfillment center consists of approximately 1,000,000 square feet and is located within the AllianceCalifornia master-planned business park
The Veterans Industrial Park I-215 subproject in Riverside, CA is an approximately 2,000,000 square foot distribution facility occupied by Target Corp. Inc.
Hillwood Development Company served as the borrower and project developer for Group 78. CMB has undertaken a multitude of EB-5 projects in partnership with Hillwood, many of which also targeted the industrial/logistics sector. The extreme growth of ecommerce in recent years has created significant demand for these facilities. We currently have several similar EB-5 investment opportunities open for subscription.
This is great news for all investors in the Group 78 project and a huge milestone for CMB. CMB is one of the oldest and most successful regional center operators in EB-5. We’re committed to build on our history of success and continue to help EB-5 investors from all over the world realize their American Dream!
by cmb | Aug 12, 2023 | News
This week, we learned that CMB Infrastructure Investment Group 82 received an I-956F approval! This is the second CMB EB-5 partnership to be approved since the new EB-5 regulations were implemented under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA). The first, CMB Group 78, was approved last month. Under the RIA, Regional Centers are required to file an I-956F petition for every investment offering prior to individual investors filing their I-526E petitions. This is great news for all investors in these two CMB partnerships, as it is the first step to them receiving their permanent green card through the EB-5 program.
We’re very excited about these milestones and hope to see investors in these partnerships achieve individual I-526E approvals in the near future. These I-956F petitions will provide deference to individual investor petitions and should hopefully speed up the EB-5 adjudication process as a whole.
CMB Group 82 provided $18.4 Million to finance the development and construction of an industrial/logistics facility at the Hazleton Logistics Park located in Hazleton, PA. The development, which has been leased by Samsung SDS America Inc. (Samsung), is over 1,200,000 square feet (111,500 square meters). Samsung has since taken over occupancy as of the 3rd quarter of 2022.
Hillwood Development Company served as the EB-5 borrower and project developer for Group 82. Since 2012, CMB has worked hand in hand with Hillwood to identify and structure some of the highest quality EB-5 partnerships in the industry. To date, CMB and Hillwood have partnered on 36 separate EB-5 partnerships. Of those, 28 have achieved I-526 approvals, and 14 have achieved I-829 approvals. We believe this represents the strongest Regional Center/Developer relationship in the industry.
CMB currently has two EB-5 investment opportunities, both in partnership with Hillwood, available for subscription. If you are currently considering the EB-5 program, contact us today to schedule a consultation with our investment specialists.
by cmb | Jul 7, 2023 | News
CMB received great news this week, our Group 78 EB-5 partnership just received an I-956F approval! The I-956F is a new petition introduced by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) following the passage of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 by Congress. Under the Reform and Integrity Act (RIA), Regional Centers are required to file an I-956F petition for every investment offering. Importantly, this approval also shows an ongoing commitment by USCIS to complete the timely adjudication of high-unemployment area projects.
CMB Group 78’s I-956F approval also marks another milestone in CMB’s long-term relationship with Hillwood Development Company. Group 78 featured the development and construction of warehousing/logistics projects in Southern California. This Group 78 I-956F approval is one of the first in the industry. It indicates that the USCIS has evaluated the associated EB-5 project and believes it will meet all the requirements of the program, primarily the Targeted Employment Area (TEA) and job creation requirements. The Group 78 investment is located in a TEA also known as a high-unemployment area, which after approval of their I-526E petitions, qualifies post-RIA investors for set-aside visas under the high-unemployment TEA category. Industry practitioners hope that the new I-956F petition process, along with the new associated I-526E petition, will help to reduce adjudication times for post-RIA investors.
Previously, the legacy I-526 petition was the first step in the EB-5 process. The legacy I-526 was adjudicated based on information related to both the EB-5 investor and the EB-5 project. Therefore, project-related information could potentially be reevaluated with every individual investor’s petition. In contrast, the new I-526E petition includes a field for an I-956F receipt number. In theory, once an I-956F petition is approved, post-RIA investors in that EB-5 partnership should see their I-526E petitions adjudicated based solely on investor-specific criteria as deference will be provided to the approved I-956F petition referenced in their filing.
This new adjudication process should be far more efficient, and it’s the hope of many in the industry that processing times will decrease substantially. We at CMB believe that this approval is a huge accomplishment for our Group 78 investors, and we hope to see more individual I-526E approvals in the near future.
CMB EB-5 partnerships have seen recent success at the I-829 staged. In the past month, we’ve been notified of the first I-829 approvals in CMB Group 46, CMB Group 51, and CMB Group 57. An I-829 approval is the single most important milestone in the EB-5 process and grants investors permanent residence in the United States. CMB has now achieved these approvals in 44 separate EB-5 partnerships and we maintain a 100% project approval rate with the USCIS.
If you are currently considering the EB-5 program, contact us today to schedule a consultation with our investment specialists. We have EB-5 investment opportunities available for subscription that qualify for set-aside visa categories under the RIA!
by cmb | Jun 22, 2023 | News
CMB received great news this week, our Group 78 EB-5 partnership just received an I-956F approval! The I-956F is a new petition introduced by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) following the passage of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 by Congress. Under the Reform and Integrity Act (RIA), Regional Centers are required to file an I-956F petition for every investment offering. Importantly, this approval also shows an ongoing commitment by USCIS to complete the timely adjudication of high-unemployment area projects.
CMB Group 78’s I-956F approval also marks another milestone in CMB’s long-term relationship with Hillwood Development Company. Group 78 featured the development and construction of warehousing/logistics projects in Southern California. This Group 78 I-956F approval is one of the first in the industry. It indicates that the USCIS has evaluated the associated EB-5 project and believes it will meet all the requirements of the program, primarily the Targeted Employment Area (TEA) and job creation requirements. The Group 78 investment is located in a TEA also known as a high-unemployment area, which after approval of their I-526E petitions, qualifies post-RIA investors for set-aside visas under the high-unemployment TEA category. Industry practitioners hope that the new I-956F petition process, along with the new associated I-526E petition, will help to reduce adjudication times for post-RIA investors.
Previously, the legacy I-526 petition was the first step in the EB-5 process. The legacy I-526 was adjudicated based on information related to both the EB-5 investor and the EB-5 project. Therefore, project-related information could potentially be reevaluated with every individual investor’s petition. In contrast, the new I-526E petition includes a field for an I-956F receipt number. In theory, once an I-956F petition is approved, post-RIA investors in that EB-5 partnership should see their I-526E petitions adjudicated based solely on investor-specific criteria as deference will be provided to the approved I-956F petition referenced in their filing.
This new adjudication process should be far more efficient, and it’s the hope of many in the industry that processing times will decrease substantially. We at CMB believe that this approval is a huge accomplishment for our Group 78 investors, and we hope to see more individual I-526E approvals in the near future.
CMB EB-5 partnerships have seen recent success at the I-829 staged. In the past month, we’ve been notified of the first I-829 approvals in CMB Group 46, CMB Group 51, and CMB Group 57. An I-829 approval is the single most important milestone in the EB-5 process and grants investors permanent residence in the United States. CMB has now achieved these approvals in 44 separate EB-5 partnerships and we maintain a 100% project approval rate with the USCIS.
If you are currently considering the EB-5 program, contact us today to schedule a consultation with our investment specialists. We have EB-5 investment opportunities available for subscription that qualify for set-aside visa categories under the RIA!
