Who does what

Administrative Appeals Office

Also called AAO.

The Administrative Appeals Office, or AAO, is the USCIS body that reviews denials of EB-5 investor petitions, regional center applications and project approvals, looking at the whole record afresh rather than deferring to the officer below, and no court may take up an EB-5 determination until its review has been exhausted.

What it decides

The 2022 Reform and Integrity Act put the AAO's EB-5 jurisdiction into the statute, covering regional center designation and amendment, approval of a project business plan on Form I-956F, an investor's own petition, the termination or suspension of any benefit, and any sanction. It also bars a court from reviewing such a determination until administrative appeals are exhausted. An appeal goes on Form I-290B, filed with the office that issued the decision and never sent straight to the AAO, within 30 calendar days of personal service or 33 days where it came by mail. A decision revoking an already approved petition allows only 15 days, or 18 by mail, which is the deadline people miss. The issuing office has about 45 days to reverse itself before forwarding the file. The AAO aims to decide within 180 days of receiving a complete record, and met that on 95.7 percent of Form I-526 appeals in the quarter to June 2026 but on only 20.0 percent of Form I-924 appeals. Form I-829 is the exception: no appeal lies from its denial, and the investor argues the case in removal proceedings, where the burden rests on USCIS.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(P), headed Administrative appellate review, for the jurisdiction list at (P)(i)(I) to (V) and for the exhaustion bar at (P)(ii), which is itself expressed as subject to subparagraph (N)(v) and to 8 U.S.C. 1252(a)(2). 8 CFR 103.3(a)(2)(i) for the thirty day deadline and the requirement to file with the issuing office, and (a)(2)(iii) for the 45 day initial field review; note the regulation still uses the pre-2003 name Administrative Appeals Unit. 8 CFR 205.2 with 8 CFR 103.8(b) for the 15 and 18 day revocation deadline. 8 CFR 216.6(d)(2) for the Form I-829 exception and the burden on USCIS. De novo review is AAO Practice Manual Chapter 3.4, page last updated 30 October 2025. The 180 day goal and the quarterly completion percentages are the USCIS AAO Processing Times page, last updated 14 July 2026, reporting fiscal year 2026 third quarter, April to June 2026.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into administrative appeals office rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Motion to reopen or reconsiderA motion to reopen or reconsider is a request on Form I-290B, costing $800, that asks the USCIS office which made the latest decision in a case to look at it again, and it must be filed within 30 calendar days of that decision, or 33 days where the decision came by mail.
Form I-290BForm I-290B, Notice of Appeal or Motion, is the single form carrying three different requests: an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office, a motion to reopen on new facts, and a motion to reconsider on legal error.
Denial and revocationDenial and revocation are the two ways USCIS refuses an EB-5 petition: a denial rejects a petition that has not established eligibility, and a revocation withdraws an approval already granted, which is why an approved EB-5 petition is never finally settled.
Form I-956FForm I-956F, Application for Approval of an Investment in a Commercial Enterprise, is the application a designated regional center must file for each particular investment offering before any investor may petition on that offering.
Form I-829Form I-829, Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status, is the petition an EB-5 conditional permanent resident files in the 90 days before the second anniversary of that status, asking USCIS to confirm the capital was invested and the ten jobs created and to make the green card unconditional.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary