The I-829 petition is considered the final step of the EB5 investment process. Investors must prepare and submit their petition during the last 90 days of their two-year conditional residency period. If an investor fails to do so, they jeopardize their ability to obtain permanent residency. In essence, the I-829 petition is designed to demonstrate to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that the investment has met EB5 program requirements. Upon I-829 petition approval, the investor, their spouse, and unmarried children under the age of 21 are granted permanent resident status in the United States.
Once an I-829 petition is filed, USCIS will issue a receipt of filing to each of the parties under review (the principal applicant and their spouse and dependents). In cases where the investor has retained an attorney for the EB-5 investment process, the attorney will receive a copy of the receipt as well. Using this receipt, an investor can track their petition’s status. This receipt will also provide confirmation that the applicant’s conditional resident status has been extended while USCIS reviews the petition. Furthermore, the receipt notice will continue to provide the investor with work and travel authorization while their petition is under review.
Sometimes an I-829 receipt notice is nowhere to be found. Perhaps the investor misplaces their notice, or, in rare cases, the notice gets lost in the mail. EB5 investors who find themselves in such a situation can simply contact USCIS and request a duplicate copy. Additionally, immigration attorneys will have a copy of the receipt as well, which can be accessed by the investor.
USCIS generally processes I-829 petitions in the order they are received, but some forms can take longer to process than others. Form I-829 adjudication typically takes several years to complete — the average processing time as of October 2022 is 57 months. However, processing times should be used as a reference point, not as an absolute measure of how long a case will take to be completed.
