There is a misconception about visa availability, processing times, and priority dates. Vietnamese investors may see the October 2018 Visa Bulletin indicating 3-year wait and think the same applies to new investors, when in fact the current priority date is specific to investors who filed by January 2016. The truth is individual wait times vary by priority date (date of I-526 receipt). Meaning, investors from the same country don’t all have the same wait time. Vietnamese investors who filed I-526 in January 2016 will likely have an almost 3-year wait for a conditional green card, while Vietnamese who filed I-526 in April 2018 will likely have a 6-year wait.
Based on predictions from EB-5 Blog, the preeminent authority in the EB-5 industry, wait times for Investors from Vietnam are as follows:
- 2014 priority date: visa issued in 2019 (5-year wait)
- 2015 priority date: visa issued in 2020/2021 (6-year wait)
- 2016 priority date: visa issued in 2022/2023 (7-year wait)
- 2017 priority date: visa issued in 2024/2025 (8-year wait)
- 2018 priority date: visa issued in 2026/2027 (9-year wait)
- 2019 priority date: visa issued in 2027/2028
Having the oldest priority dates, China-born applicants dominate the front of the line for EB-5 visas. They will get 99% of EB-5 visas in 2019, and gradually reduce to about 80% of visas by 2027. For more, see: https://blog.lucidtext.com/category/eb-5-law-policy/
