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Carolyn Lee PLLC (CLP) is pleased to share a remarkable investor story.
A client contacted Carolyn Lee about EB-5 visas for the family, having first worked with Carolyn on the successful EB-5 case for an elder son years ago. The family now had a sensitive situation.
Their child was months from aging out – that is, turning 21. Aging out results in a child no longer qualifying for inclusion in the parent’s EB-5 case. The parents were anxious to do all they could to keep their daughter included.
The new EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 (RIA) was enacted in March 2022 with the support of Carolyn in her capacity as legislative counsel to IIUSA, the leading EB-5 trade association. As USCIS began to interpret this massive new body of immigration law, guidelines emerged.
One such guideline was the requirement that an I-956F (Application for Approval of an Investment in a Commercial Enterprise) receipt be included in the investor’s petition – the new Form I-526E. Yet, the I-956F filed by the client’s regional center had been pending for weeks with no formal receipt, though a plain paper receipt was in hand.
The child in this case was days from aging out. The investor’s regional center, a supportive industry leader, prepared an expedite request to USCIS urging issuance of the I-956F receipt.
Carolyn Lee argued that the I-956F receipt required was actually already in hand, as the I-956F form instructions did not specify the form of receipt. Moreover, Carolyn argued that USCIS’s practice of issuing plain paper notices to EB-5 regional centers established the relevant precedent.
The I-526E was filed just before the child turned 21 years, hoping until the last for a formal receipt to issue. A paper acknowledgment of filing arrived, but not the formal I-526E receipt with it under the new 2-step USCIS process for EB-5 receipt issuances. Then, the formal I-526E receipt was issued.
This I-526E receipt is likely the first issued in EB-5 RIA history.
We at Carolyn Lee PLLC are proud to share this great news for our client and also proud to be a part of an EB-5 advocacy community that worked hard to keep this family together. It is a part of our own firm’s story of continuing to make EB-5 history.
