On the evening of Friday, June 24, Judge Vince Chhabria issued an Order Granting Plaintiff’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction (“Order”), which stated that USCIS is “enjoined from treating the existing regional centers as deauthorized while this litigation is pending (or until the agency engages in a reasoned decision-making process regarding how to treat these centers under the Integrity Act)” (emphasis added) and that previously authorized Regional Centers “must presently be permitted to operate within the regime created by the Act” (Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, or “Act” for short), which includes “processing new I‑526 petitions from immigrants investing through previously authorized regional centers.”
On Thursday, June 30, IIUSA held a webinar featuring its attorneys who represented this case and helped save the EB-5 industry: Attorney Paul Hughes and Attorney Ron Klasko. They confirmed that Form I-956 (Application for Regional Center Designation) does not need to be filed at this point, since all previously approved regional centers are authorized again to operate. They also stated that any potential challenges by USCIS to try to enforce that may not be successful until at least 1 year later. They reiterated that at this time, Form I-956F (Application for Approval of an Investment in a Commercial Enterprise) should be filed that demonstrates compliance with the Act before I-526 petitions can be filed.
Please note that the lawsuit is not finalized, and the preliminary injunction will remain in place either until the ruling on summary judgment is issued or until USCIS issues a guidance or a regulation on how the regional centers should be treated.
