← United States · 2018

witharrow.ai/volatility-index/united-states/recovered-us-tenant-occupancy-20180515

Tenant-occupancy methodology withdrawn for EB-5 job forecasts

Validated finding · five-country-2010-20260922-v118-evidence-presentation-fix

CountryUnited States
Operative dateMay 15, 2018
CategoryInvestor immigration
Policy toolAdministrative adjudication guidance
Affected groupEb-5 regional-center immigrant investors relying on tenant-occupancy job forecasts

Policy effect

From May 15, 2018, USCIS no longer accepted tenant-occupancy methodology as a reasonable basis for EB-5 regional-center job-creation forecasts. Petitions directly related to projects included in pending or approved applications or petitions at the time of the change remained subject to prior guidance. Deference to previously approved projects remained subject to exceptions for material change, fraud or misrepresentation, or legal deficiency in the prior determination.

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: Petitions directly related to projects included in pending or approved applications or petitions at the time of the change remained subject to prior guidance.; Deference to previously approved projects remained subject to exceptions for material change, fraud or misrepresentation, or legal deficiency in the prior determination.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office of the Director (MS 2000) Washington, DC 20529-2000 May 15, 2018 PA-2018-03 Policy Alert SUBJECT: Rescission of Guidance Regarding Tenant-Occupancy Methodology Purpose U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is revising policy guidance in the USCIS Policy Manual to reflect that, as of May 15, 2018, USCIS no longer considers tenant occupancy to be a reasonable methodology to support economically or statistically valid forecasting tools. Background Foreign nationals may seek an immigrant visa under the regional center program to comply w … ith the job creation requirement under section 203(b)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) by establishing “reasonable methodologies for determining the number of jobs created by the program, including such jobs which are estimated to have been created indirectly…” USCIS has determined that tenant-occupancy methodologies result in a connection or nexus between the investment and jobs that is too tenuous. Therefore, USCIS no longer considers this methodology to be reasonable or a valid forecasting tool under the regulations. USCIS will continue to give deference to Form I-526 and For … m I-829 petitions directly related to previously approved projects, absent material change, fraud or misrepresentation, or legal deficiency of the prior determination.1 Except for cases involving deference, this update is controlling and supersedes any prior guidance on this topic. Policy Highlights  Explains that a tenant-occupancy model is not a reasonable methodology because the relationship between the investment and the jobs is too tenuous. Citation Volume 6: Immigrants, Part G, Investors, Chapter 2, Eligibility Requirements [6 USCIS-PM G.2]. 1 Specifically, petitions directly related to … projects included in pending or approved applications or petitions at the time of the policy change will be adjudicated under prior guidance. See USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Immigrants, Part G, Investors, Chapter 6, Deference [6 USCIS-PM G.6].
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ServicesUSCIS Policy Alert PA-2018-03Open official source
Retrieved from https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/policy-manual-updates/20180515-EB5TenantOccupancyMethodology.pdf

Review method

Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews

Automated source validation is not independent human legal review. The finding should not be treated as legal advice. Record recovered-us-tenant-occupancy-20180515. Something wrong? Flag this record.

Other United States changes operative in 2018