Question:
How long does it take to get a response after appealing? My family's EB-5 case got rejected, even though we were confident and proved that we are qualified to be an EB-5 investor. Immigration miscalculated the investment fee when they were calculating the exchange rate from Taiwan NT to USD. We already transferred the right amount of money out, when the immigration said it wasn't enough. It has been about 24 days and we still haven't got a respond yet. We do have some history where our visa got rejected which was about two years ago. When my mothers E-2 visa expired and our renewal was rejected. Even if we are qualified for EB-5, are there other reasons where they can still reject us?
Answers:
You raise some very interesting questions which require a detailed analysis and opinion. It is advisable for you to seek the services of an experienced EB-5 attorney who has expertise in regard to the Appeal process , and grounds of inadmissibility which may affect the issuance of a residency visa. If the appeal is taking too long, then it may be advisable for you as a foreign national investor to re-file the I-526 petition so that a new USCIS adjudicator will have the opportunity to review and hopefully approve re-filed I-526 petition. The rejection of a previous E-2 Visa may affect the granting of your EB-5 permanent residency visa, if the previous ground for denial amounted to a ground of inadmissibility based upon such matters as fraud, misrepresentation, crime involving moral turpitude, or other grounds of admissibility which have no available Waiver application procedures to overcome the previous or current possibility of a denial of the EB-5 Visa.
There is not a set timeline for the processing of appeals, but it will very likely take much longer than 24 days. It may take several months. The initial rejection should be the only basis for a denial of the appeal. That is, you would have appealed only the decisions made in the rejection. If the USCIS did not raise certain issues in the rejection, they should not raise them when processing the appeal. If approved, the other matters you raise could become an issue when applying for conditional permanent residency. To help avoid these issues, we recommend retaining qualified U.S. Immigration counsel with EB-5 experience, like our law firm, to assist and represent you.