Category: All

Tracking Consular Immigrant Visa Interviews

For an EB-5 investor living outside the United States, the consular interview is the step that converts an approved petition into an immigrant visa. Its timing depends on three separate things: whether a visa number is available, whether the National Visa Center (NVC) has marked the case documentarily qualified, and whether the assigned embassy or […]

EB-5 Visa Waste and Non-Allocation: What the Numbers Show

Congress sets a fixed number of immigrant visas each year. If the agencies cannot finalize enough cases before the fiscal year ends on September 30, unused employment-based numbers generally expire. They do not carry forward, and no new law is needed for them to disappear. That general rule has a significant EB-5 exception, and the […]

EB-5 Visa Retrogression: Trends, Signals, and the Year Ahead

Retrogression is an inventory event, not a judgment about any individual case. When the number of applicants ready to receive a visa exceeds the visas available under the annual limits, the State Department moves priority date cutoffs backward, holds them in place, or marks a category unavailable entirely. Fiscal year 2026 produced a clear example […]

What “Growth” Actually Means in Post-RIA EB-5

Growth in EB-5 has two sides, and they do not always move together. One side is intake: how many investors file petitions and how much capital enters the program. The other side is output: how many petitions USCIS approves and how many EB-5 visas actually get issued. Since the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) […]

IIUSA’s Look at EB-5 Processing Times: What the Numbers Actually Mean

EB-5 processing times are not one number. An EB-5 case moves through several separate clocks: the EB-5 project approval (Form I-956F), the investor petition (Form I-526E), visa availability under the monthly Visa Bulletin, then either adjustment of status or consular processing, and finally the removal of conditions (Form I-829). The total wait is set by […]

Trump’s Immigration Agenda, the Gold Visa, and What It All Means for EB-5 Investors

https://youtu.be/A15ukCgkqVM With the Trump administration pursuing a broadly restrictive immigration agenda, foreign investors and their families are asking a straightforward question: is the EB-5 program still a reliable path to U.S. permanent residence? In this episode of the EB5 Insight podcast, Houston EB5’s Simon Winer sits down with attorney Indy Siddhu — a business and […]

The 75-Country Travel Ban and EB-5: What Affected Investors Need to Know Right Now

https://youtu.be/GCspcUoaRbw The recent executive order restricting nationals of approximately 75 countries from obtaining U.S. immigrant visas has prompted significant concern among EB-5 investors and practitioners alike. In this episode of the EB5 Insight podcast, Houston EB5’s Simon Winer speaks with attorney Edward Bishara — Managing Partner of Bishara P.A. in Orlando, Florida, and one of […]

EB-5 Visa Explained: Concurrent Filing, Faster Processing & Smart Investor Strategies

https://youtu.be/5A4jeS0pWD4?si=W3G_16qK4cL3Elnc Several years after the enactment of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (RIA) of 2022, the EB-5 immigrant investor program looks meaningfully different — and, in many respects, considerably stronger. In the inaugural episode of the EB5 Insight podcast, Houston EB5 business development and operations analyst Simon Winer sat down with Christian Triantphyllis, partner […]

Why Direct EB5 Investments Face Higher Denial Rates: What Investors Need to Know

The EB‑5 Immigrant Investor Program offers two distinct paths to U.S. permanent residency: direct EB‑5 investments and regional center investments. While both ultimately lead to a green card if executed properly, recent USCIS data reveals a widening gap in approval success—particularly when it comes to the removal of conditions via Form I‑829. At Houston EB5, […]