Currently, only
Chinese investors who applied for EB-5 visa before February of 2014 can get
their Green Cards now--so the waiting time for those investors is 2 years and 4
months. But this waiting time keeps increasing because over the last two years
several thousands of new EB-5 applications have been filed, which is many more
times than yearly EB5 visa quota. What is the waiting time for Chinese EB-5
investors who are planning to apply this year?
There
are approximately 40,000 Chinese EB-5 petitions pending and an additional
20,000 approved petitions awaiting visa availability--that is total of 60,000
people waiting in line. If all of the 10,000 annual EB5 quota was used by the
Chinese investors, it would take at least 6 years wait for a Chinese investors
applying now. However, other countries made up 15% EB5 investors last year, and
that percentage is likely to increase to over 50% as the Chinese EB-5 market
collapses due to long wait times and as other markets rise. If 50% of the EB5
applications in a year come from non-Chinese investors, that means that number
of visas available for Chinese investors could shrink to 5000 per year,
resulting in almost 12 years wait for Chinese investors investing now.
