The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released updated processing times and statistics for EB-5 petitions this week.
Processing times for EB-5 petitions remain lengthy. As of September 30, 2015, adjudication of I-526 petitions averaged 14.4 months, I-829 processing averaged 15.4 months, and I-924 petitions were adjudicated in an average of 11.6 months.
For Q4 of FY15:
| Petition | Received | Approved | Denied | Pending |
| I-526 | 6,575 | 2,185 | 377 | 17,367 |
| I-829 | 499 | 461 | Redacted | 4,049 |
With renewal of the EB-5 Regional Center Program pending, many issuers hoped that filing project exemplar or I-526 petitions prior to the September 30th sunset date would result in their projects being “grandfathered” under the current lower investment amount.
As a result, filing of I-526 petitions increased dramatically; in Q4, more I-526 petitions were filed than in FY13 altogether.
For I-526 petitions over the course of FY15:
| Quarter | Received | Approved | Denied | adjudications | % denial | Pending |
| Q1 | 2,959 | 1,652 | 133 | 1,785 | 7.5% | 13,569 |
| Q2 | 2,337 | 1,978 | 273 | 2,251 | 12.1% | 13,731 |
| Q3 | 2,502 | 2,941 | 268 | 3,209 | 8.4% | 13,129 |
| Q4 | 6,575 | 2,185 | 377 | 2,562 | 14.7% | 17,367 |
| Increased by: | ||||||
| FY15 | 14,373 | 8,756 | 1,051 | 9,807 | 10.7% | 3,798 |
As projects scrambled to file before September 30th, the risk of project denial grew higher.
The increased rate of I-526 denial in Q4 is likely only the beginning; denials will likely only increase as petitions filed during the “September 30th bubble” are adjudicated.
The number of pending I-526 petitions has also increased dramatically as a result of increased filing in Q4.
When compared with the previous two fiscal years, FY15 I-526 petition data is as follows:
| FY | I-526 Received | I-526 approved | I-526 denied | Total I-526 adjudications | I-526 pending |
| 2013 | 6,346 | 3,699 | 943 | 4,642 | 7,131 |
| 2014 | 10,923 | 4,925 | 1,169 | 6,094 | 12,453 |
| 2015 | 14,373 | 8,756 | 1,051 | 9,807 | 17,367 |
For I-829 petitions:
| FY | I-829 Received | I-829 Approved | I-829 denied | Total I-829 adjudications | I-829 pending |
| 2013 | 1,217 | 844 | 44 | 888 | 1,345 |
| 2014 | 2,516 | 1,603 | 178 | 1,781 | 2,075 |
| 2015 | 2,767 | 1,067 | 11 | 1,078 | 4,049 |
The growth of the program and increases in EB-5 petition filing have continued to outpace the USCIS’s ability to adjudicate petitions.
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