Visas and the queue

Unreserved visas

Also called unreserved category, 68 percent, 5th Unreserved.

The 68 percent of each fiscal year's EB-5 visa numbers that sit outside the rural, high unemployment and infrastructure set-asides, and go to investors whose project qualifies for none of the three.

What it decides

8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(B)(i)(I) reserves 20 percent of the EB-5 numbers for investors in a rural area, 10 percent for a high unemployment area and 2 percent for infrastructure projects, so 32 percent is reserved and the remaining 68 percent is unreserved. Reserved numbers left unused at the end of a fiscal year stay in the same category for the immediately succeeding year under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(B)(i)(II)(aa), and any still unissued at the end of that second year pass to qualified immigrants described in subparagraph (A) under item (bb), which is the unreserved pool. The 7 percent per country limit of 8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2) applies to reserved and unreserved numbers alike, but demand for the set-asides has been far lighter, so those categories have generally stayed current while the unreserved category backlogged for China and India. That difference in demand, not any exemption from the cap, is why a set-aside project can move an investor out of a backlogged column. The Department of State prints the category as 5th Unreserved in the employment-based chart of the Visa Bulletin.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(A), (b)(5)(B)(i)(I) and (b)(5)(B)(i)(II)(aa) and (bb) (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1153&num=0&edition=prelim); 8 U.S.C. 1152(a)(2) for the 7 percent per country limit (https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1152&num=0&edition=prelim); DHS proposed rule, EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022; Ensuring the Integrity of the EB-5 Program; Automatic Revocation of Petitions for Immigrant Classification, 91 FR 40676 (2 July 2026), which describes the two year carryover and uses the term unreserved at 40710 (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/02/2026-13392/eb-5-reform-and-integrity-act-of-2022-ensuring-the-integrity-of-the-eb-5-program-automatic); Department of State Visa Bulletin, employment-based chart, cited without a link because travel.state.gov refuses automated requests. Note that 91 FR 40676 is a proposed rule and not final.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into unreserved visas rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Sunset and reauthorizationThe regional center program's visa authorization runs through 30 September 2027 under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(E), and only an act of Congress can extend it.
GrandfatheringThe rule at 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(5)(S) that requires DHS to keep processing a regional center investor's petition, and to keep visas flowing to approved ones, even if the legislation authorizing the regional center program expires, provided the petition was filed on or before 30 September 2026.

Checked against primary sources on 6 August 2026. Back to the glossary