EB5 Investors Magazine | Page 39

Figure 1: USCIS Visa Statistics for FY20141 FY2014 EB5 Visa Statistics by Immigration Origin Country Visas % of Total China (Mainland Born) 9,128 85.37% South Korea 225 2.10% Mexico 129 1.21% China (TaiwanBorn) 126 1.18% Vietnam 121 1.13% Russia 100 0.94% India 96 0.90% Iran 76 0.71% Canada 52 0.49% Nigeria 50 0.47% Japan 49 0.46% Great Britain 41 0.38% Egypt 37 0.35% Hong Kong 30 0.28% Brazil 30 0.28% South Africa 22 0.21% All other countries 380 3.55% Total 10,692 100% Until other markets develop more sophisticated EB-5 infrastructures, China will most definitely remain the dominant source for investors in the foreseeable future. Competition will remain extremely high in China, and without an increase in the number of visas available through this program the effects of retrogression will persist. Over the last 12-18 months we have seen a significant shift away from China. While mainly focused within the Persian Gulf, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, marketing efforts are being launched in countries all over the world. Because the federal government’s fiscal year ends Sept. 30th, the most recently published data actually represents petitions filed and approved between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30, 2014. Consequently, although it is too soon for the USCIS data to reflect these efforts, once the petitions for these new investors are filed, we will expect to see a very different result. A