The U.S. Department of State’s August 2024 Visa Bulletin shows no changes in the EB-5 visa category. Dates remain current for all nationalities except India and China.
Below is a summary of the final action cutoff dates used for issuing an immigrant visa or approving an adjustment of status application across different employment-based visa categories.
Final Action Dates
Dates for Filing
Rural EB-5 Investments Offer Faster Processing Times
Begin Your EB-5 Journey With EB5AN
Final Action Dates
The chart above displays the final action dates for employment-based immigrant visas as published in the August 2024 Visa Bulletin. These cutoff dates determine the availability of immigrant visas based on the applicants’ priority dates.
The priority date is the date when the initial Green Card application was filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). For EB-5 applicants, this is the date of filing Form I-526E.
If an applicant’s priority date is before the final action date in their category, they may proceed with their immigrant visa application.
A final action date marked as “C” or “current” means there is no backlog in that category for the corresponding nationality, allowing the immigrant visa to be issued immediately upon approval.
EB-5 Visa Updates
The final action dates and dates for filing for the EB-5 investor visa have remained unchanged since February. This applies to all EB-5 subcategories (unreserved and set-asides) for applicants from all countries except India and Mainland China.
For the EB-5 unreserved categories (C5, T5, I5, and R5), China’s final action date remains at December 15, 2015, and India stays at December 1, 2020.
The EB-5 set-aside visa classifications, including rural, high-unemployment, and infrastructure categories, remain current across all countries.
Updates for Other Employment-Based Visa Categories
The final action dates and dates for filing for all employment-based categories, except for EB-2 and EB-3, remain unchanged.
Here are the slight advancements in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories:
EB-2
China’s final action date stays at March 1, 2020, and India moves forward by one month to July 15, 2012. The dates for all other countries remain at March 15, 2023.
EB-3
China’s final action date remains at September 1, 2020, while India moves forward by one month to October 22, 2012. The dates for all other countries stay at December 1, 2021.
Unlike the retrogression seen in July, the August Visa Bulletin does not retrogress the dates for the EB-3 category. However, due to high demand and usage, the State Department expects that this category will likely retrogress or become unavailable in September.
Dates for Filing
While the “Final Action Date” chart indicates when a visa is expected to be available for an applicant’s nationality within their category, the “Dates for Filing” chart specifies the date when an applicant can apply for a visa following the approval of their petition.
The Dates for Filing chart for August also shows a one-month advancement in the EB-2 and EB-3 categories for India. In this chart, the Indian cutoff date for EB-2 is July 22, 2012, and for EB-3, it’s November 1, 2012.
At the time of writing, USCIS has not yet updated its own Visa Bulletin web page to announce whether adjustment of status applications will be accepted based on the Final Action Dates chart or the Dates for Filing chart for August.
Rural EB-5 Investments Offer Faster Processing Times
For those looking for a quicker path to a U.S. Green Card, investing in EB-5 set-aside categories is a great option, with unique advantages for rural EB-5 investments.
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) allocated 32% of the annual EB-5 visas to projects in targeted employment areas (TEAs) and certain infrastructure projects. Specifically, 20% are reserved for rural areas, 10% for high-unemployment areas, and 2% for infrastructure projects.
The August 2024 Visa Bulletin shows that these reserved categories are “current” for all countries, meaning there are no delays and visas are available immediately.
Investors from high-demand countries like India and China can avoid long waits in the unreserved visa line by choosing projects that qualify for these set-aside categories.
Those who invest in rural EB-5 projects can get their visas approved even faster, as USCIS prioritizes processing rural I-526E petitions.
However, since the number of reserved visas is limited, interested investors should start their EB-5 process soon to take advantage of this faster route before these categories also face delays.
Begin Your EB-5 Journey With EB5AN
Going through the EB-5 process is easier with specialized guidance. To understand the program requirements and avoid financial and immigration risks, prospective investors should consult an experienced immigration lawyer and industry-leading EB-5 experts.
EB5AN has helped over 2,300 families from 60 countries move to the United States as permanent residents. With over a decade of experience, we offer low-risk EB-5 regional center projects with a 100% USCIS project approval rate to date.
Please schedule a free consultation with EB5AN today to get all your questions answered by our expert team.
