USCIS released data today indicating that its processing time for I-526 visa petitions increased to an average of 14.7 months, from an average of 13.2 months during September, October and November of 2014.

At the recent EB-5 Stakeholder Engagement at which Ignacio Donoso participated in person, USCIS EB-5 program chief Nicholas Colucci acknowledged the problem and attributed it to the significantly increased popularity of the EB-5 program. Mr. Colucci expressed confidence that the USCIS would be able to reduce processing time to approximately 10 months by the end of 2015.

Mr. Colucci also notified the public that certain I-526 cases that were still being stored at the California Service Center were recently transferred to the USCIS Investor Program Office in Washington, D.C. This accounted for some of the delay experienced by certain cases filed in 2014. I.A. Donoso & Associates will continue to monitor the development of this important issue.”