Our Mission
EB5Status is the independent data authority for the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. We publish verified immigration data with institutional credibility and transparent provenance:analogous to how the Federal Reserve publishes monetary data that policymakers, economists, and journalists cite without question.
We are not a law firm, regional center, marketplace, or advocacy organization. We do not promote specific investments, projects, or practitioners. We do not accept sponsorship from industry participants. Our sole purpose is to publish EB-5 data that is accurate, well-sourced, and comprehensible to legal practitioners, investors, policymakers, and researchers.
Our operating principle is simple: We publish less data with perfect provenance rather than more data with ambiguous sourcing. Every number on EB5Status has a source. Every source has a trust tier. When we don’t know something, we say so explicitly:we never fill gaps with speculation or industry rumors.
Data Sources: The 18-Source Hierarchy
EB5Status draws from 18 distinct sources organized across three operational tiers.
Tier 1: Mission Critical Sources (Continuous Monitoring)
- 1.U.S. Department of State Visa Bulletin (monthly) : Visa cutoff dates by preference category; data back to Oct 2007
- 2.USCIS Published Statistics (quarterly) : Petition counts by type, approval/denial/pending; data back to FY 1994
- 3.USCIS Processing Times Tool (monthly) : Median processing times by service center and petition type
Tier 2: Core Authority Sources (Regular Monitoring)
- 4.Federal Register (irregular) : Proposed/final rulemaking, fee schedules, form revisions
- 5.USCIS Policy Manual (continuous) : Eligibility criteria, processing procedures
- 6.USCIS AAO Decisions (continuous) : Appellate interpretation of EB-5 regulations
- 7.USCIS Newsroom & Alerts (irregular) : Operational alerts, policy changes
- 8.USCIS Forms & Fee Schedules (irregular) : Form instructions, fee amounts
- 9.EB5Status FOIA Data (quarterly target) : Service center breakdowns, processing distributions
- 10.AIIA FOIA Data (semi-annual) : Parallel FOIA requests with different scopes
Tier 3: Supporting & Contextual Sources (Never Primary)
- 11 to 14.Federal Court Opinions, GAO Reports, DHS OIG Reports, Congressional Records
- 15 to 17.IIUSA, EB5Investors.com, Practitioner Reports (contextual only, never cited as primary evidence)
- 18.EB5Status Internal Estimates & Models (Yellow/Orange tier, always labeled)
The Trust Tier System
| Tier | Label | Badge | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P0 | Official | Published by issuing government agency | Visa Bulletin cutoff dates; USCIS petition statistics | |
| P1 | Derived | Calculated from official data using disclosed methodology | Approval rates; visa movement velocity | |
| P2 | FOIA | Obtained via FOIA request | Service center petition breakdowns | |
| P3 | Estimated | Inferred from partial data or statistical models | Backlog estimates; cutoff velocity projections | |
| P4 | Editorial | Analysis, commentary, interpretation | Trend analysis; policy implications |
Three-Zone Communication Model
Confidence Labels
Freshness Indicators
| State | Color | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh | Updated within SLA | |
| Due for Refresh | 1 to 2 weeks past SLA | |
| Stale | >2 weeks past SLA |
SLAs: Visa Bulletin <3 days · Processing Times <3 days · Quarterly Stats <7 days · FOIA Data <14 days
Key Metric Calculations
Approval Rate
(approved / (approved + denied)) × 100
Source: USCIS quarterly statistics (Blue). Excludes pending and withdrawn petitions.
Visa Movement Velocity
current_cutoff_date − previous_cutoff_date (in days)
Source: State Department Visa Bulletin (Blue). Positive = advanced, negative = retrogressed.
Processing Time Estimate
Source: USCIS Processing Times Tool (Blue). Median processing time by service center.
Backlog Estimate
pending_petitions − (avg_monthly_rate × months_forecast)
Source: USCIS stats (Blue) + processing tool (Blue) + internal model (Yellow). Confidence intervals published.
What We Don’t Know
We are explicit about data gaps. The following information is not available through our sources and we do not attempt to fabricate or estimate it:
- •Real-time petition status
- •Detailed applicant demographics
- •Service center variance at granular level
- •Denial reason breakdowns
- •Regional center performance metrics
- •Individual investor outcomes
- •Forward-looking pipeline data
If we don’t have it, we say so.
Conflict Resolution Protocol
- 1.Check publication dates (newer supersedes)
- 2.Check scope definitions (FY vs. calendar year)
- 3.File FOIA for clarification
- 4.Publish both values with explanation (never suppress)
- 5.Establish provisional truth
- 6.Publish corrections with equal prominence
Versioning
eb5_datasets_v{YYYY}.{MM}.{seq}calculations_v{major}.{minor}All versions documented at /changelog with what changed and why.
Six Non-Negotiable Rules
- 1.Never publish unverifiable user-submitted data
- 2.Never cite industry sources as primary evidence
- 3.Never aggregate crowd-sourced outcomes without verification
- 4.Never suppress conflicting data for a clean narrative
- 5.Never make policy recommendations
- 6.Never allow advertisers to influence data, methodology, or analysis
On Rule 6:
- •All advertising is clearly labeled and visually separated from editorial content
- •Advertisers have zero influence over data collection, trust tier assignments, or methodology
- •A strict editorial firewall ensures complete independence of our data operations
How to Report Errors
Email: data@eb5status.com
All corrections published at /corrections with date, description, source, and impact.
How to Cite This Page
APA
EB5Status. (2026, March). How we collect, verify, and publish EB-5 data. Retrieved from https://www.eb5status.com/methodology
Chicago
EB5Status. “How We Collect, Verify, and Publish EB-5 Data.” Accessed March 6, 2026. https://www.eb5status.com/methodology.
Bluebook
EB5Status, Methodology (Mar. 6, 2026), https://www.eb5status.com/methodology.
Detailed Methodology
For in depth explanations of how we handle specific data types, see these topic pages:
How We Calculate Processing Times
USCIS data sourcing, percentile interpretation, and trend tracking
How We Read the Visa Bulletin
Bulletin structure, chargeability, and movement analysis
Data Collection and Verification
Source hierarchy, verification process, and FOIA pipeline
Trust Tier Definitions
Blue, Green, Gray, Yellow, and Orange tier assignment criteria
Update Schedule and SLAs
Publication cadence and freshness commitments
FOIA Data Collection Process
Request strategy, validation pipeline, and publication protocol
Data Corrections Policy
Error classification, correction process, and disclosure standards
TEA Threshold Projections
CPI-U adjustment methodology and investment amount forecasts
Wait Time Estimation Model
Processing time ranges, visa bulletin projections, and total timeline estimates
Editorial Independence Policy
Revenue firewall, conflict disclosure, and accountability commitments
Directory Verification Methodology
How we verify attorneys and regional centers: verification levels, data sources, and independence commitments
How this data was calculated
This page documents the methodology, source hierarchy, trust tier system, and editorial rules governing all data published by EB5Status.
Related Resources
Last updated: April 2026
EB5 Status is for educational purposes only. Not legal or investment advice.