The EB-5 program remains in its most consequential phase since the 2022 Reform and Integrity Act. In FY2026 Q3 (April to June 2026), USCIS received 1,665 new-law investor petitions (I-526E: 1,599 | I-526: 66), following a record 6,660 new-law receipts across full FY2025.
Adjudication outcomes shifted in FY2026 Q3. USCIS approved 76% of the I-526E cases it completed (687 approved of 904 I-526E completions), down from 94.2% of completions across full FY2025 (3,171 of 3,366). The 176 denials in a single quarter approach the 195 I-526E denials recorded in all of FY2025, making this the first quarter with a material denial share under the reformed program.
The new-law pending backlog reached 12,050 petitions at the end of FY2026 Q3 (I-526E: 11,192 | I-526: 858) as new filings continued to outpace completions. The legacy pre-2022 I-526 queue is tracked separately and stood at 1,071 pending cases at the same date.
On the visa issuance side, the State Department issued 14,924 EB-5 visas in FY2024 (immigrant visas plus adjustments), the latest annual total; no FY2025 annual report exists yet. China remained by far the largest issuance country with 9,547, followed by Vietnam (1,533) and India (1,428), even as China-born applicants face final action date backlogs.
USCIS publishes two processing-time metrics that should never be mixed: the quarterly median for I-526E cases completed in FY2026 Q3 was 13.6 months, while the Check Case Processing Times tool shows a single I-526E range of 34.5 to 36.5 months (80% band) with no rural, HUA, or unreserved split. Rural petitions receive statutory priority processing within that single queue.
The grandfathering deadline of September 30, 2026 has passed: regional center petitions filed by then are protected if the program lapses, and later petitions are not.
