EB-5 for Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan Investors: Where Availability Stands in 2026

For investors born in Vietnam, South Korea, or Taiwan, the EB-5 picture in 2026 comes down to one word that India and mainland China cannot claim: Current. All three of these markets sit at Current in every EB-5 category on the visa bulletin, which means an investor from any of them can file a petition and, once it is approved, move straight to a visa number with no country-specific backlog standing in the way.

As of June 25, 2026, that is the reading from the most recent bulletin the U.S. Department of State has published (Visa Bulletin No. 16, Vol. XI, for July 2026). It is not a forecast. It is what the EB-5 rows actually show for these three countries today, and it is the single fact that should shape how a Vietnamese, South Korean, or Taiwanese investor times a filing this year.

How do Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan compare on the EB-5 Visa Bulletin in 2026?#

The short answer is that they do not differ from each other at all. None of the three carries an EB-5 cutoff. Each appears in the bulletin under "All Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed," the catch-all line that stays Current, because none of them generates enough EB-5 demand to trip a per-country limit the way India and China do.

For contrast, in the same July 2026 bulletin India's unreserved category is listed as Unavailable for the rest of fiscal year 2026 because the country exhausted its pro-rated share, and mainland China's unreserved Final Action Date sits years in the past, reflecting many years of accumulated demand. We cover those two markets in depth in the EB-5 filing strategy for Indian investors and the EB-5 filing strategy for Chinese investors. Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan are on the other side of that divide, and the live figures are always on the visa bulletin tracker.

Why does "Current" matter so much right now?#

When a category is Current, there is no waiting period for a visa number. The only clock that runs is the petition-processing clock at USCIS, plus the consular or adjustment step at the end. There is no separate, open-ended wait for the priority date to become available, because it is already available.

That has two practical consequences for an investor from any of these three countries.

First, the timeline is governed by adjudication speed, not by the bulletin. You can gauge where adjudication stands on the processing times tracker and model a personal estimate with the EB-5 wait calculator. Neither India's nor China's reality, where the unreserved wait is measured in years or is frozen outright, applies here.

Second, concurrent filing is on the table from day one for anyone already inside the United States. Because a visa number is immediately available, an investor present on a valid status such as F-1, H-1B, L-1, or E-2 can file the I-526E petition and the I-485 adjustment-of-status application together, which opens the door to an Employment Authorization Document and Advance Parole while the petition is pending. For a born-in-Taiwan, Vietnamese, or South Korean investor in the U.S., that turns EB-5 into a path that delivers work and travel benefits well before the green card itself.

Where does each market stand?#

The shared headline is the same, but each country comes to it from a different place.

Vietnam#

Vietnam has become one of the faster-growing EB-5 source markets in Asia, driven by a young, entrepreneurial wealth base and strong demand for U.S. university access. It has historically brushed up against EB-5 visa cutoffs during peak-demand years more than South Korea or Taiwan, so the Current status it holds in 2026 is genuinely valuable rather than something to take for granted. The main planning challenge for Vietnamese investors is not the bulletin but capital movement, which we return to below. Our dedicated guide for Vietnamese investors goes deeper on documentation patterns and source-of-funds expectations.

South Korea#

South Korea is a mature, high-income EB-5 market with a long track record of staying current. Korean investors typically bring well-documented financial histories, salaries, business proceeds, real-estate sales, and inheritances supported by a transparent banking and tax system, which tends to align cleanly with what USCIS asks for. Education and the desire to remove H-1B or visa uncertainty for adult children are recurring motivations. The guide for South Korean investors covers the country-specific detail.

Taiwan#

Taiwan benefits from a structural advantage that mainland-born applicants do not share: it is a separate chargeability area from the People's Republic of China, so Taiwan-born investors are never charged against China's deeply backlogged numbers. Taiwan appears on its own footing and stays current. Add a transparent financial system and E-2 treaty-investor access as a complementary option, and Taiwan is one of the most favorable origins for EB-5. The guide for Taiwanese investors and the Taiwan country hub track it in detail; the Vietnam country hub does the same for Vietnam.

What do all three share beyond a green light?#

Beyond Current availability, investors from these countries operate under the same federal EB-5 rules as everyone else. The reserved set-aside categories, rural at 20 percent, high-unemployment at 10 percent, and infrastructure at 2 percent, together hold 32 percent of the annual EB-5 supply. Investors from Vietnam, South Korea, and Taiwan do not need the set-asides to get a visa number, since the unreserved lane is already open to them, but the rural set-aside in particular carries a separate benefit worth weighing: USCIS gives rural petitions priority adjudication, which can shorten the processing stage even when there is no availability wait to bypass.

Choosing between a regional center project and a direct investment is the other shared decision. The vast majority of investors from all three countries file through regional centers, which use indirect job creation calculated by an economist rather than ten direct payroll jobs. The trade-offs are laid out in our regional center versus direct investment framework. For plain-language definitions of every term used here, the EB-5 glossary is the reference.

Why file before September 30, 2026?#

Current availability removes the visa-number wait, but it does not pause the two statutory deadlines that affect every EB-5 filer regardless of country. Both push in the same direction: filing sooner is cheaper and better protected than filing later.

The first is grandfathering. Under the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, petitions filed on or before September 30, 2026 are grandfathered, meaning USCIS may continue to process them even if the Regional Center Program lapses after its separate September 30, 2027 sunset. Petitions filed after September 30, 2026 carry no statutory grandfathering protection, so if the program were to lapse without reauthorization, they could be frozen, as happened during the 2021 to 2022 lapse. As of June 2026 neither date has been extended or changed.

The second is the minimum-investment increase. The EB-5 minimum is currently $800,000 for a project in a targeted employment area (TEA) and $1,050,000 for a standard project. Beginning January 1, 2027, those amounts adjust automatically for inflation under a cumulative CPI mechanism written into the statute. USCIS has not published the new figures, so no specific 2027 amount is confirmed, but the mechanism is fixed: file on or after January 1, 2027 and you file under a higher minimum. For an investor from Vietnam, South Korea, or Taiwan who already enjoys Current availability, the only reason to wait is preparation time, and the two deadlines are the reason not to wait longer than necessary.

What does capital transfer look like from each country?#

This is where the three markets genuinely diverge, and it is usually the real timeline driver, not the bulletin.

Taiwan is the most straightforward. Its individual outward-remittance allowance is high relative to other Asian source countries, and its banks routinely process large international wires for purposes like EB-5, so a single transfer is generally feasible once the source of funds is documented.

South Korea sits in the middle. The Foreign Exchange Transactions Act requires residents to report outward remittances above set thresholds to a designated foreign-exchange bank, and large transfers draw compliance review, but the system is transparent and well-trodden. Korean investors typically move capital through a declared, bank-supervised channel without structural obstacles.

Vietnam is the tightest of the three. Vietnam maintains active foreign-exchange controls, and moving large sums abroad generally must go through State Bank of Vietnam-permitted channels rather than a simple personal wire. Vietnamese investors more often stage the transfer, use compliant intermediary structures, or rely on offshore funds, and they should build extra lead time for it. The capital-transfer mechanics for each country are general regulatory context, not a USCIS rule, and an investor should confirm the current procedure with a local financial advisor and an EB-5 immigration attorney before moving money.

The bottom line#

For investors born in Vietnam, South Korea, or Taiwan, 2026 is a window in which EB-5 works the way it is supposed to: file, get adjudicated, and receive a visa number without a country-specific backlog in the path. India is unavailable for the rest of the fiscal year and China is years deep, but these three markets are Current across every category. The set-asides add a processing-speed option on top, the $800,000 TEA minimum still applies, and the September 30, 2026 grandfathering deadline plus the January 1, 2027 inflation adjustment are the only clocks that should drive urgency. The strategy is not to wait for a better moment. For these three countries, the better moment is already here.

Sources#

• U.S. Department of State, Visa Bulletin for July 2026
• USCIS, About the EB-5 Visa Classification
• USCIS, Policy Manual Volume 6, Part G (Investors)
• 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5) (statute: set-aside allocations, minimums, CPI adjustment, and program sunset)
• USCIS, EB-5 Immigrant Investor Process (concurrent filing)
• USCIS, Court Order on Partial Stay of the DHS 2024 Fee Rule