EB-5 Visa in the Indian Context
— The Challenges Ahead
The mindset of the Indian EB-5 investors when it comes to filing
of new I-526 petitions, retrogression and the complexity of
the at-risk investment requirement.
By Vivek Tandon
F
or Indian investors, the EB-5 visa represents both an
opportunity as well as a challenge. As demand shifts
from Indians residing in the U.S. to mainland India, there are
some unique challenges and issues that need to be tackled. With an average processing delay of two years between
filing and approval of the I-526 petition, there was a
surge in pending petitions in 2016 followed by a steady
increase to more than 850 petitions as of October 2018.
As one of the fastest growing major emerging economy
in the world today, India is set to grow the fastest over
the coming decade. Unsurprisingly, India’s millionaire-
population is booming. Between 2007 and 2017, the
number of millionaires in India more than doubled from
124,000 to 330,000. This figure is likely to triple, and India
may well have a million millionaires by 2027. Combined reading of USCIS data of yearly new I-526
filings from India and petitions pending processing
indicates visa retrogression for Indian applicants is
inevitable and unavoidable.
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A surging millionaire population and the general perception
equating an American green card with a successful and
happy life makes India an obvious market for the EB-5 visa.
Despite surging demand, there are significant challenges
unique to the Indian context that must be tackled effectively
to ensure the EB-5 visa continues to remain popular among
Indian investors.
This means Indian investors applying ahead are likely to
face longer processing delays through the entire EB-5
process. This is a significant challenge considering
one reason for growing popularity of the EB-5 visa over
other EB category applications was the excessively long
wait for green card approval in the latter categories.
Of course, things are not likely to be as bad as CATO
New I-526 Filings
FY 2017 587
QUOTA LIMIT HIT FOR INDIA —
IS IT ALREADY TOO LATE FOR INDIANS? FY 2016 354
Filing of new I - 526 pe titions from India have been
steadily rising through 2014 to 2017 and is likely to have
continued in FY 2018 as well. FY 2015 239
FY 2014 118
Source: USCIS
EB5INVESTORS.COM 113