Ah well, that would have been a relief but as far as we can tell that is not the case, EB5 applicants seem to go through all the same stuff every other type of visa does. We have been at this 2.5 years so far. If your attorney is on the ball an EB5 can usually be acquired in about 12 months.
Our visa application went in in March 08 and was approved in Sept 08. (it took 14 months to get the paperwork together, then we were told we could not use our UK attorney, we had to use one affiliated to AL). But we still have medicals, going tomorrow, vaccination palava, of which we are applying for excemption via an attorney that deals only with innoculation law. Then the inverviews, and the fact that you can go through all this only to find that they might not let you in at immigration at the airport! Like I said, anyone applying for any kind of visa, needs to be determined, resiliant and patient.
Yes, there was a fee paid to American Life, for UK investors it is $35,000, $25,000 for US or other countries. (or was when we applied) + all attoney fees and the fees for each filing of papers.