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P ractical A dvice to A void C onsular
P rocessing P itfalls for EB-5 I nvestors
It is important to prepare for the consular interview, know all details to your prior U.S. immigration history,
pay the USCIS fee prior to entering the country and carry a valid medical exam.
By Alexander Perez & Yiting "Dora" Hu
A
fter the approval of the I-526 petition and if
the priority date is current, EB-5 investors
and their families must go through a separate
process to request their conditional green cards.
Immigrant visa processing through a U.S. consulate
or embassy abroad is one of two available options
to effectively request the conditional green cards,
and will be their only option if they are not already
present in the U.S. maintaining a valid non-immigrant
status. As required by regulation, consular processing
culminates in the personal interview of the EB-5
investor and their dependents at a U.S. consulate or
embassy abroad. 1 There are practical solutions for
streamlining the consular process for EB-5 investors
and their families to request immigrant visas by
avoiding the most common pitfalls.
Most EB-5 investors request their immigrant visas
from abroad, rather than seeking their conditional
green cards from within the U.S. via an adjustment
of status. In fact, over the past seven fiscal years,
approximately 85 percent of EB-5 investors and their
dependents have consular processed an immigrant
visa. Much like the EB-5 process as a whole, consular
processing is best described as a series of smaller
steps that must be completed in order to proceed to
the consular interview. Overall, it may take six to nine
months for the consular interview to be scheduled
after the approval of the I-526 petition approval.
PRE-INTERVIEW PREPARATION
The first step in consular processing is a receipt and
payment of the fee bills issued by the National Visa
Center (NVC). The NVC typically issues the fee bills