USCIS announced on May 16, 2018, that it is revising guidance on immigrant investor (EB-5) cases involving tenant occupancy. Previously, the USCIS Policy Manual allowed for tenant-occupancy methodologies used by some petitioners to show that their capital created, or will create, 10 indirect jobs. USCIS said it determined that "these methodologies do not provide reasonable predictions of indirect job creation and are no longer considered reasonable methodologies to support economically or statistically valid forecasting tools."
USCIS said it therefore will no longer accept tenant-occupancy models for filings. USCIS said it will continue to "give deference to Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Alien Entrepreneur, and Form I-829, Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, "when directly related to previously approved projects, absent material change, fraud or misrepresentation, or legal deficiency of the prior determination."
USCIS also announced the same day that it is updating guidance on adjustment of status interview guidelines and interview waivers by:
- Clarifying that USCIS will interview all adjustment of status applicants unless the agency waives the interview;
- Removing employment-based and fiancé(e)-based adjustment cases from the list of types of adjustment of status cases in which USCIS might waive the interview; and
- Editing the guidance on relocating cases for adjustment interviews to be consistent with the updated list of cases in which USCIS might waive the interview.
The USCIS announcement is at https://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-policy-manual-updates.
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