While USCIS has continued to provide a monthly estimated time range for the Immigrant Petition by Alien Investor (I-526) at the Immigrant Investor Program Office, they have now added two more estimated time ranges: one specifically for Mainland Chinese investors and the other for investors from all other areas.
The non-country specific estimated time range is listed as 37 months to 73.5 months.
The newly added estimated time range for investors from Mainland China is 54 months to 75 months. The receipt date for a case inquiry for Mainland Chinese investors is June 8, 2014.
The estimated time range for investors from all areas other than Mainland China is 31.5 months to 60 months. The receipt date for a case inquiry for investors from all other areas is September 5, 2015.
How do you interpret estimated time ranges? From USCIS: “The first number is the time it takes the office to complete 50% of cases (the median). The second number is the time it takes to complete 93% of cases.”
Another factor for EB-5 investors to consider is the updated historical average processing times. For fiscal year 2020 (October 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020), the I-526 Petition historical national average form processing time is 13.7 months.