Possible Reforms to EB-5 Regional Center Program
For immigrant investors and the EB-5 industry, another year brings another round of potentially far-reaching changes to the law that governs this program. In anticipation of this, a coalition of EB-5 organizations submitted a letter to Congress last week calling for the EB-5 Regional Center program to be reauthorized and amended.
To see the full letter that was submitted to Congress, please visit the following: EB-5 Joint Industry Letter.
By way of background, the EB-5 program is slated to expire this year on September 30, 2016. This is after an eventful 2015 when the EB-5 program was extended from September 30, 2015 until December 11, 2015, and then extended again to this year. Thus, this letter is especially important in urging Congress to finally take action and give EB-5 stakeholders some answers regarding the program’s future.
The EB-5 industry letter listed five issues for reform, briefly summarized below:
- Program Integrity: Unfortunately, the EB-5 program has attracted its share of bad actors. Increased industry scrutiny can protect investors from misrepresentations or being defrauded by Regional Centers or other EB-5 actors, and can also protect the U.S. from threats to national security.
- Targeted Employment Area (TEA) Reform & Investment Minimums: Most of the issues revolving around what a TEA is and the implications of investing in a TEA have been hotly contested. The proposed reforms intend to make the designation of a TEA require a higher standard, to reduce the difference in investment minimums for non-TEA vs. TEA projects, and to increase the investment minimums but also maintain the viability of the U.S. EB-5 program as compared to other countries’ investor immigration programs.
- Visa Availability & USCIS Processing Backlog: As the EB-5 program has matured, wait times have increased at multiple points in the immigration process. The EB-5 advocates urge Congress to address the increasingly long wait times for available visa numbers as well as USCIS adjudications.
- Effective Dates: Whatever changes do get made, industry leaders believe the new EB-5 laws should include an explicit prohibition of retroactive application of the law for those individual investors who have already reached certain milestones in their immigration process, and should allow for reasonable implementation of the law pertaining to EB-5 projects such that there is minimal disruption to their business.
- Extension of the Regional Center Program: The EB-5 Regional Center program is diminished when Congress extends it on a short-term basis. Program proponents seek to make the EB-5 Regional Center program permanent, or at least to extend it beyond the short-term.
For anyone that has already submitted an I-526 petition, it is important to keep up with the legal developments that may occur after September 30. For anyone that is considering the EB-5 program, be aware of the potential significance of September 30, 2016 for your immigration process.
If you or your business need assistance to navigate this potential program change, or if you seek to submit an EB-5 petition in the near future, please contact Abbas Law PLLC to discuss the relevant considerations for your case.
