USCIS recently announced the release of a new edition of Form I-829, with the new edition dated April 21, 2017. Starting on July 24, 2017, USCIS will only accept the April 21, 2017, edition.  Until then, investors can use the May 7, 2015 edition. Both editions of Form I-829 are available to download at no cost on the USCIS website. The revised Form I-829 more closely resembles the requests and structure of the revised Form I-526. For instance, the Form I-829 now requests the receipt number of the approved Form I-924 associated with the Form I-829. Additionally, the revised Form I-829 has space for listing multiple job-creating entities, similar to the revised Form I-526. The revisions to the Form I-829 appear consistent with USCIS’ desire to extract more information via forms for EB-5 petitioners.

The Form I-829 is important because it is the last step in the journey of an EB-5 investor. The Form I-829 should be accompanied by evidence that (i) the investor has invested, or was actively in the process of investing, the required amount of capital, (2) the investor sustained this investment throughout the period of conditional permanent resident, and (3) the new commercial enterprise created or can be expected to create, within a reasonable time, at least 10 full-time positions for qualifying employees. Upon approval of the Form I-829, investors receive unconditional permanent residency.