Foreigners who had applied for an EB-5 Visa will have to wait a little longer. The longer wait time is specific to the EB-5 unreserved category for the fiscal year FY 2025.
All the available immigrant visas in the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) unreserved category for fiscal year (FY) 2025 have been issued as of September 16.
The State Department, working in close collaboration with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, has issued all available immigrant visas in the Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) unreserved category for fiscal year (FY) 2025.
The October US visa bulletin for the EB-5 Unreserved categories shows that China will remain at December 8, 2015, and India will advance by almost 15 months from 15 November 2019 to February 1. All other countries will remain current. The EB-5 set-aside categories (Rural, High Unemployment, and Infrastructure) will also remain current.
The EB-5 Visa program is considered the fastest pathway for foreigners to obtain lawful permanent residency or US green card and subsequently obtain citizenship in the United States.
The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) limits the number of employment-based preference immigrant visas that may be issued within a fiscal year.
EB-5 Visa Allocations
The INA provides for an annual limit for EB-5 visas of 7.1 percent of the worldwide employment limit, of which 32% is reserved as:
20% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in a rural area;
10% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in a high-unemployment area;
2% reserved for qualified immigrants who invest in infrastructure projects.
The remaining 68% are unreserved and are allotted for all other qualified immigrants.
Additionally, the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 specifies that unused EB-5 reserved visas from FY 2023 may be made available in the EB-5 unreserved categories for FY 2025. The calculation of the annual limit that has been reached includes these numbers.
Since all available EB-5 unreserved visas for FY 2025 have been used, embassies and consulates will not be issuing visas in these categories for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The annual limits will reset with the start of the new fiscal year (FY 2026) on October 1, 2025. At that point, embassies and consulates may resume issuing immigrant visas in this category to qualified applicants.
Unreserved EB-5 Immigrant Visa
The EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act created new EB-5 immigrant visa set-asides for qualified immigrant investors. Any of these set-aside visas that go unused are held in the same set-aside category for one more fiscal year. After the second fiscal year, any remaining unused immigrant visas in these set-aside categories are released to the unreserved EB-5 immigrant visa numbers during the third fiscal year.
EB-5 Investor Program
USCIS administers the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program, which was created by Congress in 1990 to stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors.
Investors can make a direct investment or invest in a US business worth up to USD 800,000 if it is located in a Targeted Employment Area. Alternatively, invest $1.05 million in a business in a high-employment area.
An EB-5 investor must invest the required amount of capital in a new commercial enterprise that will create full-time positions for at least 10 qualifying employees.