The U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) recently released updated statistics about how many EB-5 Investor Visa Petitions it has approved since the program started in 1991. The EB-5 immigrant visa allows qualifying investors (and certain family members) to gain permanent residency in the United States in return for a half million to million dollar investment within the United States. Among other requirements, the investment must create 10 full-time US worker positions.
The statistics show the receipts, approvals and denials for the I-526 (To request the immigrant visa) and the I-829 (to remove the conditions to permanent residency after two years of EB-5 permanent residency).
A quick review of the data shows that the visa preference category is being used much more often – and may soon become oversubscribed for some categories.
| I-526 Receipts | I-526 Approvals | I-526 Denials | I-829 Receipts | I-829 Approvals | I-829 Denials | |
| 1991 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | 474 | 240 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1993 | 436 | 384 | 170 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1994 | 513 | 407 | 82 | 24 | 15 | 1 |
| 1995 | 417 | 291 | 109 | 130 | 111 | 10 |
| 1996 | 801 | 616 | 122 | 287 | 344 | 53 |
| 1997 | 1496 | 1110 | 141 | 877 | 718 | 135 |
| 1998 | 1368 | 358 | 290 | 469 | 104 | 13 |
| 1999 | 650 | 141 | 1558 | 384 | 86 | 24 |
| 2000 | 384 | 167 | 270 | 384 | 30 | 33 |
| 2001 | 585 | 44 | 207 | 143 | 52 | 114 |
| 2002 | 255 | 69 | 217 | 194 | 198 | 174 |
| 2003 | 255 | 132 | 194 | 139 | 36 | 66 |
| 2004 | 247 | 131 | 159 | 123 | 217 | 93 |
| 2005 | 332 | 187 | 156 | 39 | 206 | 132 |
| 2006 | 486 | 344 | 132 | 89 | 108 | 108 |
| 2007 | 776 | 485 | 149 | 194 | 117 | 52 |
| 2008 | 1258 | 642 | 120 | 391 | 161 | 69 |
| 2009 | 1031 | 1265 | 208 | 437 | 350 | 57 |
| 2010 | 1955 | 1369 | 165 | 768 | 274 | 56 |
| 2011 | 3805 | 1571 | 373 | 2345 | 1067 | 46 |
| 2012 | 6041 | 3677 | 957 | 712 | 736 | 60 |