I-526E processing time for EB-5 regional center investors
Enter the receipt date of your I-526E to see how the petition compares with the range the Immigrant Investor Program Office publishes.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and past error
I-526E regional center investor
Within normal time
Too early for a case inquiry.
| Published range, Immigrant Investor Program Office | 35.0 to 38.5 months |
|---|---|
| Time since your receipt date | 12.4 months |
| USCIS takes inquiries for receipts on or before | August 12, 2023 |
How this was calculated
- USCIS published these ranges on September 17, 2026. The upper figure is the time within which USCIS completed 80% of cases; the lower one is the median.
- The national average is a different measure: all cases completed in the month, from receipt to decision, as reported to Congress.
Processing-time data: ImmigrationTimes.org (CC BY 4.0), from USCIS; selected and reformatted. Check your own case on egov.uscis.gov.
Estimate from public data, not legal advice. Your case may differ (cross-chargeability, CSPA, waivers). For advice, see a licensed immigration attorney or a DOJ-accredited representative. Not affiliated with USCIS or the Department of State. Method and past error
Form I-526E is the immigrant petition filed by an investor through an EB-5 regional center. It is decided by the USCIS Immigrant Investor Program Office, which publishes a single line for it. In the edition of September 17, 2026, the range is 35 to 38.5 months, or roughly 2.9 to 3.2 years: half of the petitions were decided within the first figure and 80% within the second. USCIS accepts case inquiries for receipts dated on or before August 12, 2023. The monthly report to Congress does not list the I-526E, so this range is the only official measure of the wait. The filing fee under the G-1055 schedule is $3,675. The petition is only one of two clocks for investors born in China or India: in the Visa Bulletin, the unreserved EB-5 Final Action Date for mainland China is December 1, 2016 and for India December 1, 2023, against Current (C) for all other countries. USCIS does not explain the length of the I-526E range on its tool.
A wait measured in years
The range reads 35 to 38.5 months, about 2.9 to 3.2 years. Only 3.5 months separate the median petition from the 80% mark, so the petitions decided between those two points are bunched closely together. The inquiry date of August 12, 2023 shows how far back that 80% mark reaches: an investor whose receipt date is later than it is still within what USCIS calls normal processing time, even after two or more years.
Put the receipt date from the I-797C notice in the checker above. It returns the months elapsed and tells you whether a case inquiry is already possible. Keep in mind that, by construction, one petition in five takes longer than the upper figure, so passing it is not by itself a sign that something went wrong.
The second clock: the EB-5 cutoffs
| Country of birth | Final Action Date | Date for Filing |
|---|---|---|
| All other countries | Current (C) | Current (C) |
| China (mainland born) | December 1, 2016 | March 1, 2021 |
| India | December 1, 2023 | May 1, 2024 |
For an investor born in mainland China or India, the petition and the cutoff run in parallel. Approval of the I-526E does not bring the visa number closer, and a current priority date does not speed up the petition. The EB-5 China and EB-5 India pages show how those cutoffs moved since 2001.
What this page does not cover
Regional center fees, project risk and the investment amount are outside the scope of a processing-time page, and none of them is published by USCIS in a form we could check. The Form I-526E page lists the current edition and filing rules. An immigration attorney is the right contact for questions about a specific project.
Published processing times
| Form and category | Office | Range (median to 80% of cases) | Inquiries for receipts up to |
|---|---|---|---|
| I-526E regional center investor | Immigrant Investor Program Office | 35.0 to 38.5 months | August 12, 2023 |