Great News for EB-5, Better News for Vietnam’s EB-5 InvestorsJune 22, 2021
State Department’s Chat with Charlie and July 2021 Visa Bulletin– Great News for EB-5, Better News for Vietnam’s EB-5 Investors
The current and future implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on The U.S. Department of State (State Department) Consular Post became clearer during the State Department’s June Visa Bulletin monthly “Chat with Charlie,” YouTube Live Event.
During the live-streamed broadcast, Mr. Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of Immigrant Visa Control for the State Department, estimated an all-time high of at least 290,000 Employment-Based Visas would be available for the FY 2022 and then forecasted that the EB-5 visa category for Vietnam applicants would become ‘current’ in September 2021 (more on this below).
Charlie estimated that due to the effects of COVID-19, the State Department will not reach the annual limits on Family-Sponsored Visas for FY 2021. The unused visas from Family-Based categories “fall across” into Employment Based categories, making the unused additional visas available. This set of unfortunate circumstances for the Family-Based immigration visa categories benefits the Employment Based (EB) visa categories including Employment Based Fifth Preference (EB-5).
The Visa Bulletin is published each month by the State Department to summarize the availability of immigrant visa numbers for the upcoming month. Accordingly, the Visa Bulletin provides projections on availability, demand and the State Department’s compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This monthly data set is eagerly awaited information for applicants filing in categories that are “oversubscribed”, which, describes a situation where the visa category limit or annual limit per-country is exceeded by demand of participants. This results in the demand being greater than the available annual allocation. In certain high demand categories, the demand exceeding supply results in participants waiting – sometimes many years – until a visa becomes available.
With an estimated 290,000 visas available for Employment-Based categories in FY2022, oversubscribed countries in the EB-5 category, specifically Vietnam, are likely to see the greatest benefit.
What current means in Visa Bulletin language:
Mr. Oppenheim’s projection that Vietnam will become “current” in September 2021 is one that is seismic in its impact for current and prospective EB-5 investors from that country. Since FY 2018, Vietnam investors have experienced a multiple-year wait for an EB-5 visa to become available. By moving Vietnam to current for the EB-5 category, when EB-5 applicants from Vietnam have an approved I-526 petition and are documentarily qualified, i.e., all required documents submitted to the National Visa Center, they are likely to have an EB-5 visa available to them immediately.
Perhaps as important: prospective EB-5 investors from Vietnam who have been considering to invest in an EB-5 offering, should be optimistic and begin their due diligence, as expected the wait time for an available visa for Vietnamese EB-5 participants are decreasing rapidly.
By the numbers:
Mr. Oppenheim predicted that due to the implications of COVID-19 on Consulate Posts’ ability to function at full capacity during FY 2021, at least 290,000 Employment-Based immigrant visas will be available for FY 2022. He stated, “This is an all-time high.” If the estimation becomes reality, it will provide more than double the annual allocation of 140,000 employment-based visas as established by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Applying Charlie’s 290,000 visas prediction, it is possible to estimate the EB-5 category’s portion of the FY 2022 annual Employment Based allocation. The INA requires, a FY allotment for the Employment Based 5th Preference (EB-5) set at 7.1% of the total available visas.
Typical U.S. Government FY: October 1, through September 30.
– 140,000 immigrant visas are available to five Employment-Based visa categories.
Estimating for FY 2022 – Assuming 290,000 visas become available for Employment-based categories:
July 2021 Visa Bulletin:
In the State Department Visa Bulletin for July 2021, the EB-5 category “Final Action Date” for Vietnam is moved forward nearly two years to April 1, 2020 from the June Bulletin date of April 15, 2018, which follows the trend of predicted by Charlie during his webinar. The July 2021 Visa Bulletin also spotlights the effect of necessary legislative action to extend the EB-5 regional center program beyond the present June 30th sunset date by stating:
If there is legislative action extending this category for July, the final action dates would immediately become “Current” for July for all countries except China-mainland born [!regional!], which would be subject to a November 8, 2015 final action date and Vietnam [!regional!] , which would be subject to an April 1, 2020 final action date.
The EB-5 program has current authorization by Congress through June 30, 2021. If you are interested in an opportunity to immigrate to the United States via the EB-5 program, the time to perform your due diligence is now.
CMB Regional Centers
CMB is one of the oldest and most successful Regional Center operators in the industry. CMB represents more than 5,800 immigrant investor families from 103 countries. Recently CMB surpassed the 5000th investor with an I-526 approval and announced that approximately $1.4 Billion in repaid loans has been returned to CMB’s EB-5 partnerships. For more information on the EB-5 program and CMB’s current investment offerings, please contact CMB here.
CMB’s current EB-5 investment opportunity has received I-924 project approval from the USCIS. CMB Group 78 features development of logistics centers for two fortune 500 companies who are leaders in e-commerce. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, CMB focused upon development within the industrial logistics sector. While other industry sectors within the U.S. economy have been severely impacted by the Pandemic, the logistics industry has experienced tremendous growth and become central to the expansion of online shopping and transformation of the global supply chain
If you would like to learn more about the EB-5 Investor Visa, or CMB’s current EB-5 offerings, please contact us to schedule a free initial consultation with a CMB Investor Relations Manager.
CMB engages Prevail Capital, LLC, a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC, to be the administrative placement agent for all CMB EB-5 partnerships.
The current and future implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on The U.S. Department of State (State Department) Consular Post became clearer during the State Department’s June Visa Bulletin monthly “Chat with Charlie,” YouTube Live Event.
During the live-streamed broadcast, Mr. Charlie Oppenheim, Chief of Immigrant Visa Control for the State Department, estimated an all-time high of at least 290,000 Employment-Based Visas would be available for the FY 2022 and then forecasted that the EB-5 visa category for Vietnam applicants would become ‘current’ in September 2021 (more on this below).
Charlie estimated that due to the effects of COVID-19, the State Department will not reach the annual limits on Family-Sponsored Visas for FY 2021. The unused visas from Family-Based categories “fall across” into Employment Based categories, making the unused additional visas available. This set of unfortunate circumstances for the Family-Based immigration visa categories benefits the Employment Based (EB) visa categories including Employment Based Fifth Preference (EB-5).
The Visa Bulletin is published each month by the State Department to summarize the availability of immigrant visa numbers for the upcoming month. Accordingly, the Visa Bulletin provides projections on availability, demand and the State Department’s compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This monthly data set is eagerly awaited information for applicants filing in categories that are “oversubscribed”, which, describes a situation where the visa category limit or annual limit per-country is exceeded by demand of participants. This results in the demand being greater than the available annual allocation. In certain high demand categories, the demand exceeding supply results in participants waiting – sometimes many years – until a visa becomes available.
With an estimated 290,000 visas available for Employment-Based categories in FY2022, oversubscribed countries in the EB-5 category, specifically Vietnam, are likely to see the greatest benefit.
What current means in Visa Bulletin language:
Mr. Oppenheim’s projection that Vietnam will become “current” in September 2021 is one that is seismic in its impact for current and prospective EB-5 investors from that country. Since FY 2018, Vietnam investors have experienced a multiple-year wait for an EB-5 visa to become available. By moving Vietnam to current for the EB-5 category, when EB-5 applicants from Vietnam have an approved I-526 petition and are documentarily qualified, i.e., all required documents submitted to the National Visa Center, they are likely to have an EB-5 visa available to them immediately.
Perhaps as important: prospective EB-5 investors from Vietnam who have been considering to invest in an EB-5 offering, should be optimistic and begin their due diligence, as expected the wait time for an available visa for Vietnamese EB-5 participants are decreasing rapidly.
By the numbers:
Mr. Oppenheim predicted that due to the implications of COVID-19 on Consulate Posts’ ability to function at full capacity during FY 2021, at least 290,000 Employment-Based immigrant visas will be available for FY 2022. He stated, “This is an all-time high.” If the estimation becomes reality, it will provide more than double the annual allocation of 140,000 employment-based visas as established by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
Applying Charlie’s 290,000 visas prediction, it is possible to estimate the EB-5 category’s portion of the FY 2022 annual Employment Based allocation. The INA requires, a FY allotment for the Employment Based 5th Preference (EB-5) set at 7.1% of the total available visas.
Typical U.S. Government FY: October 1, through September 30.
– 140,000 immigrant visas are available to five Employment-Based visa categories.
- EB-5’s allocation is 7.1% of the available total
- Approximately 10,000 visas available for applicants and their qualifying family members.
Estimating for FY 2022 – Assuming 290,000 visas become available for Employment-based categories:
- EB-5 category allocation is 7.1% of the available total
- Approximately 20,590 visas that would be available for applicants and their qualifying family members.
July 2021 Visa Bulletin:
In the State Department Visa Bulletin for July 2021, the EB-5 category “Final Action Date” for Vietnam is moved forward nearly two years to April 1, 2020 from the June Bulletin date of April 15, 2018, which follows the trend of predicted by Charlie during his webinar. The July 2021 Visa Bulletin also spotlights the effect of necessary legislative action to extend the EB-5 regional center program beyond the present June 30th sunset date by stating:
If there is legislative action extending this category for July, the final action dates would immediately become “Current” for July for all countries except China-mainland born [!regional!], which would be subject to a November 8, 2015 final action date and Vietnam [!regional!] , which would be subject to an April 1, 2020 final action date.
The EB-5 program has current authorization by Congress through June 30, 2021. If you are interested in an opportunity to immigrate to the United States via the EB-5 program, the time to perform your due diligence is now.
CMB Regional Centers
CMB is one of the oldest and most successful Regional Center operators in the industry. CMB represents more than 5,800 immigrant investor families from 103 countries. Recently CMB surpassed the 5000th investor with an I-526 approval and announced that approximately $1.4 Billion in repaid loans has been returned to CMB’s EB-5 partnerships. For more information on the EB-5 program and CMB’s current investment offerings, please contact CMB here.
CMB’s current EB-5 investment opportunity has received I-924 project approval from the USCIS. CMB Group 78 features development of logistics centers for two fortune 500 companies who are leaders in e-commerce. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, CMB focused upon development within the industrial logistics sector. While other industry sectors within the U.S. economy have been severely impacted by the Pandemic, the logistics industry has experienced tremendous growth and become central to the expansion of online shopping and transformation of the global supply chain
If you would like to learn more about the EB-5 Investor Visa, or CMB’s current EB-5 offerings, please contact us to schedule a free initial consultation with a CMB Investor Relations Manager.
CMB engages Prevail Capital, LLC, a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC, to be the administrative placement agent for all CMB EB-5 partnerships.