What is the advantage of “direct investment” for Vietnamese EB-5 investors?

There is no faster line for direct investors.

Direct investment EB-5 does not accelerate your application.

It seems to be taking 25 months to 32.5 months to process the initial I-526, whether it be an "direct" or "indirect" investment.

The current immigrant visa backlog for EB-5 investors from Vietnam applies to investments in both the regional center EB-5 projects and direct EB-5 projects.

There are no advantages or accelerated processing for direct investment vs. regional center investment, and certainly you will not be able to avoid the country-based backlog by filing through direct investment. If your spouse has another nationality you can use cross chargeability, but outside of that, there is no way to avoid the country-based backlog.

A direct EB-5 visa would be subject to the same visa backlog. The best thing to do would be to try to apply as soon as you are able to.

The backlog problem is a result of the rise in the number of petitions based on the national origin of the petitioners. It has nothing to do with whether an investor files for direct investment or through a regional center (RC). This is how the backlog with the Chinese investors became an unavoidable reality, and the same is likely to occur in the case of Vietnamese investors if the number of petitions keeps rising from Vietnam. Thus, no acceleration consideration will be given to direct investment over the RC.

It seems you have been misinformed; all Vietnamese nationals are subject to the same visa priority date, regardless of which type of a project they invest in.

Very good question. Unfortunately, there is no "processing advantage" for going the direct investment route. I would also advise to reconsider whether this is the best option because although you may get maximum profits as an equity owner of your business, you are also absorbing maximum risk. Some other strategies our Vietnamese clients are considering include the L-1 option for qualified applicants.

There is no guarantee that your application could be accelerated if you do direct EB-5. Also, visa number backlog applies to all Vietnamese nationals, not just to regional center EB-5 applicants, as the per-country quota applies to all EB-5 category of visas.