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USCIS Sued Over Arbitrary Standards for EB-5 Immigration Visa Program

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is facing a lawsuit over denial of entry to investors/entrepreneurs into the EB-5 Immigrant Visa Program.

The 18 plaintiffs are clients of American Life, Inc., and invested in the company’s $12 million development project in Riverside County, California in the hope of getting EB-5 visas and ultimately Green Cards.

 Foreign investors or entrepreneurs who invest $1 million (or $500,000 in a rural or high unemployment zone) into a project in the U.S. that creates at least 10 jobs are qualified for an EB-5 Immigrant Visa. They can seek permanent residency after two years, subject to verification of the results of the project and associated job creation.

American Life collects funds from multiple investors seeking an EB-5 and puts it all into a qualified project such as the Riverside County construction of two buildings for office, industrial or warehouse use. The property was to be rented out to a company that would create 278 jobs.

They have been successfully doing such projects and getting EB-5 visas for their clients for some time now. But this time, USCIS rejected the project on the basis that it did not meet their job creation requirements.
The 18 investors in the project, who hail China, India and other countries, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit alleges that the USCIS decision was “irrational, arbitrary and capricious.”

The complaint further adds that the USCIS’ rejection of the project deprives plaintiffs of due process, and is causing foreign investors to think twice about investing into projects in the U.S. They specifically cite a Marriott Hotel construction project in Los Angeles involving EB-5 investors which has been put on hold for a year. All EB-5 projects for 2012 alone account for more than $2 billion in investments and have created 42,000 jobs.

Did you know?
A terminated EB-5 Regional Center can appeal to the USCIS Administrative Appeals Office (AAO).
The USCIS has authorized certain third-party companies as EB-5 Regional Centers that can take investments from prospective applicants for an EB-5 Immigration Visa. These regional centers are then charged with creating the required number of jobs using the invested funds. If this designation as an EB-5 Regional center is terminated, the company can appeal to the AAO to reverse the termination.