An investor involved in a Chelsea condominium project has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), alleging significant delays in processing an application related to the EB-5 visa program.
The lawsuit was initiated by an entity raising EB-5 funds for Legion Investment Group and AVRS Partners’ 83-unit luxury development at 550 West 21st Street. The complaint also names the USCIS-designated regional center, which is responsible for sponsoring job-creating projects for EB-5 investors, as a defendant. According to court documents, the regional center filed an I-965F application with USCIS on July 3, but it has remained pending for over three months.
The project aims to secure between $60 million and $80 million in EB-5 funding, which would be converted into mezzanine debt to help finance the more than $320 million development. Under the EB-5 program, investors must contribute at least $800,000 to qualifying projects in rural or high-unemployment areas to gain a pathway to U.S. citizenship. These investors can only submit their petitions after USCIS approves the I-965F application, which verifies that the project meets EB-5 requirements.
The lawsuit claims that due to these delays, it has been a “struggle to convince investors” that both the regional center’s application and individual investor petitions will be approved when there has been no decision on the initial application “many months after filing and long after” other projects received approval.
Aaron Grau, executive director of Invest in the USA, stated that regional centers have not reported widespread changes in application processing times. “There could be some unjust delays, but we’re not hearing anything on the macro level,” he said.
It remains unclear how this legal action will affect the Chelsea project at 550 West 21st Street. The project’s financing plan also includes $117.5 million in equity and a $155 million construction loan, which Legion and AVRS recently secured from Eldridge Capital Management’s real estate investment division. The application indicated that proceeds from the EB-5 loan would be used for construction costs and possibly to reimburse qualified bridge capital.
Neither Legion Investment Group nor the EB-5 lender responded to requests for comment.
After a follow-up email on September 26 from an attorney representing the regional center regarding the status of the application, USCIS replied: “This case is with an Immigrant Investor Program officer. We appreciate your patience.”
The investor attributes the delays to “[d]efendants’ policy decisions to under-staff the USCIS Immigrant Investor Program Office.” However, no official data has been released regarding staffing reductions at USCIS, and the agency did not respond to inquiries.
“USCIS is probably understaffed to begin with,” Grau said, adding that processing times often depend on specific circumstances.
Recent policy changes could impact visa programs further. In September, President Donald Trump introduced a “Gold Card” visa program allowing individuals to pay $1 million for U.S. residency. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick indicated this new visa could replace existing employment-based visas such as EB-1 and EB-2, which are available to foreign nationals with extraordinary abilities seeking permanent residency. Lutnick also suggested other green card categories may be suspended after a trial period, leaving the Gold Card—and a more expensive Platinum Card—as primary entry options.
Trump had previously proposed replacing the EB-5 program with the Gold Card earlier this year. The EB-5 program was established in 1990 to encourage foreign investment in job creation; President Joe Biden extended it until 2027.
Despite uncertainty about future immigration pathways, Grau noted: “The White House’s comments about immigration pathways have been a surprising boon to the EB-5 program, spurring ‘additional conversation and interest around EB-5.’”
