Guidance Revised On EB-5 Immigrant Investor Cases Involving Tenant Occupancy; Adjustment Of Status Interview Guidelines/Waiver Criteria (Video)
USCIS announced on May 16, 2018, that it is revising guidance on
immigrant investor (EB-5) cases involving tenant occupancy.
Previously, the USCIS Policy Manual allowed for tenant-occupancy
methodologies used by some petitioners to show that their capital
created, or will create, 10 indirect jobs. USCIS said it determined
that “these methodologies do not provide reasonable
predictions of indirect job creation and are no longer considered
reasonable methodologies to support economically or statistically
valid forecasting tools.”
USCIS said it therefore will no longer accept tenant-occupancy
models for filings. USCIS said it will continue to “give
deference to Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur,
and Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on
Permanent Resident Status, “when directly related to
previously approved projects, absent material change, fraud or
misrepresentation, or legal deficiency of the prior
determination.”
USCIS also announced the same day that it is updating guidance
on adjustment of status interview guidelines and interview waivers
by:
- Clarifying that USCIS will interviewall adjustment of status applicants unless the agency waives the
interview;
- Removing employment-based andfiancé(e)-based adjustment cases from the list of types of
adjustment of status cases in which USCIS might waive the
interview; and
- Editing the guidance on relocatingcases for adjustment interviews to be consistent with the updated
list of cases in which USCIS might waive the interview.
The USCIS announcement is at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-policy-manual-updates.
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