Risk and compliance

OFAC check

Also called Required checks, SDN List check.

An OFAC check is the search of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals List that 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(R) requires before USCIS may approve an EB-5 investor petition. The search must cover the investor and any associated employer, and it bars approval, not filing.

What it decides

Subparagraph (R), headed "Required checks", says a petition filed under 8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(H) may not be approved unless the Secretary of Homeland Security has searched for the alien and any associated employer of such alien on the SDN List. Section 1154(a)(1)(H) is the provision every EB-5 petition is filed under, so the bar reaches the standalone Form I-526 and the regional center Form I-526E alike. It does not reach Form I-829, which is filed under 8 U.S.C. 1186b. What (R) does not do is say what follows a hit. It imposes a search duty on DHS and stops there; a name on the list is dealt with elsewhere, most obviously through the lawful source of funds test at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(L) and the discretionary national interest denial and revocation power at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(N), which clause (v) puts beyond judicial review. Do not expect guidance to fill the gap: chapters 1 to 6 of USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6 Part G, read on 5 August 2026, do not mention OFAC or the list at all.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(R), "Required checks", read verbatim on uscode.house.gov and reconfirmed against the govinfo United States Code 2023 and 2024 editions of section 1153; 8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(H) (govinfo 2023 edition of section 1154) for the petitions it reaches; 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(N)(i) and (v) for the denial and revocation power and the bar on judicial review. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 6 Part G is expressly not authority for this term: chapters 1 through 6 were fetched and searched on 5 August 2026 and none contains the string "Specially Designated" or "Foreign Assets".

Related terms

OFAC sanctions screeningOFAC sanctions screening is the search of a person against the Specially Designated Nationals List kept by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(R) makes a precondition of approving an EB-5 investor petition and which every US bank in the payment chain also runs on its own account.
Source of fundsSource of funds is the documentary showing that an EB-5 investor's required capital, and the money used to pay administrative costs and fees, was obtained from a lawful source and through lawful means, proved by records rather than by assertion.
Form I-526EForm I-526E, Immigrant Petition by Regional Center Investor, is the petition an investor files with USCIS to claim EB-5 classification under INA 203(b)(5)(E) for capital pooled in an offering for which a designated regional center has already filed Form I-956F.
Form I-526Form I-526, Immigrant Petition by Standalone Investor, is the EB-5 petition for an investor going direct under INA 203(b)(5), investing alone in a new commercial enterprise outside the Regional Center Program.
Threats to the national interestThreats to the national interest is subparagraph (N) of the EB-5 statute, which obliges the Secretary of Homeland Security to deny or revoke any EB-5 petition, application or benefit, and to end the resident status it produced, once the Secretary decides in discretion that approval would be contrary to the national interest for reasons relating to public safety or national security.

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